The Second Try
by ZeroRevolution
Summary: After his wife dies, Harry Potter, the strongest wizard ever born, has nothing to live for. He decides that, after all that fate has put him through, its time for a little payback. He goes back in time, with plans to make some changes. YEAR ONE COMPLETE!
1. Transition

**Okay, to be honest, I hate this chapter. I hate writing beginnings... If you hate the beginning too, don't judge the whole story by it.**

**The original timeline in this is mostly canon, except for relationships and book 7. The story, however, probably won't be.**

**Harry is not "Dark Harry", he simply uses all of the power at his disposal and is sick of putting up with idiotic behavior. He is still a good wizard and plans to defeat Voldemort. He just is going about it in a different manner.**

**Characters will be acting a bit OOC.**

* * *

The old man stood upon the tallest tower of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and looked over the grounds. He watched the sun set, the sky taking on a beautiful color. He knew that it would be the last sunset he saw. He watched as the signs of the day faded away and changed to night. He sighed, then silently Apparated to his office. Wearily, he drew out a blue-tinged wooden wand with silver metal around it. With a gesture, the paintings in the room were empty, having been barred from their resting places by the Headmaster. He didn't need their criticisms tonight.

Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and the Boy-Who-Won, sat back on the chair in the office. Honestly, the list of all of his titles could take almost ten minutes to read, but there were only a few that he really cared about. There was one name that he would give everything to have back, even if it were only for a single day. Husband of Hermione Jean Potter. She'd died ten years earlier, having finally succumbed to old age, despite Harry's best efforts.

Harry Potter was dying too, but not of old age. He could live another few hundred years with ease. The magic within him was so strong that he'd had to place hundreds of seals on his magic, locking him down to a mere percentage of his true strength. The magic would sustain him and heal any impurities within his body. Physically, despite his age, he was capable of feats that would leave men a quarter his age crying, without even breaking a sweat.

He wasn't actually dying. He simply had nothing to live for. He'd seen his friends and family die one by one, during the war. He'd only been able to save Hermione, and even then it had been difficult. His and Hermione's only daughter had died as well, when a single man had broken into the house and performed a Killing Curse. Harry had been facing an entire army at the time, but when he felt his daughter's death, he'd literally opened the gates of hell.

A rift had opened beneath the feet of the army, swallowing them whole. Fire had rained from the skies and lightning had struck them. Winds ripped through them. It was more than simple Elemental Magic, however. He'd called forth a storm of raw magical power. There had been no physical signs, only a wall of invisible magic radiating out from the angered man. The writhing, shifting field had destroyed half of the continent, before he'd finally regained enough control to stop the destruction.

After Hermione died, Harry had been utterly alone. He'd become distant and would probably had sunk into depression long before, had he not found the phoenix. Actually, she'd found him, right after the funeral. She was blue and silver. Somehow, Harry detected Hermione's spirit within the creature. He'd named her Mia. The bird had kept him company, giving him a reason to keep going. Finally, Harry had made his decision.

Harry had spent ten years working on his Temporal Magics. The field had no experts (due to the fact that anyone who studied such a thing inevitably went insane) so Harry had been working completely blind. It had only taken him a year before he was considered the Master of the field.

Harry drew the necessary runes on the floor, creating a magic circle the likes of which had never been seen before. The lines glowed as Harry activated the magic. The equations were in place, the target was programmed. The only thing left was a massive surge of magical energy. Taking a deep breath, Harry opened every seal on his magic. The world shook as its last hero literally exploded. The ancient castle and everything within a hundred miles were caught by the explosion.


	2. Family Relations

A tiny bit of gore in here... its outlined... I hate the Dursleys.

* * *

Harry Potter lifted his head, smacking it on the low ceiling. He looked around, his body instantly absorbing the changes he'd made in the future. He was in the cupboard under the stairs. The Dursleys! Harry thought with a chuckle. He was planning on dealing with them anyway. Then, he looked at his hand. It definitely wasn't what he'd been expecting. He'd been aiming for one century of travel, right after he'd turned 17.

Instead, he found himself in a five year-old body. He'd have to live through Hogwarts again… Actually, that wouldn't be bad at all. He could start his relationship with Hermione that much sooner. Besides, it would be interesting to see the changes. Suddenly, a plume of multicolored flame exploded into brilliance next to him. Mia flapped her wings, struggling not to hit a wall in the tiny space.

"Sorry Mia." Harry chuckled. He removed the Trace that detected underage magic, as well as the detection spells that had been placed onto him by Dumbledore. He gestured and the door flew off its hinges, slamming into a wall. He summoned the letter that Dumbledore had left with Harry on the Dursleys' doorstep. Reading it confirmed his suspicions. Dumbledore had not only been siphoning funds from Harry's vault to pay the Dursleys, he'd also instructed them to keep him as cut off from magic as possible. He knew that beatings tended to slow discharges of accidental magic, so there were orders in the note to make sure that he was beaten at least thrice a week.

Harry's anger triggered a burst of flame that incinerated the paper. Mia, who had been perched on Harry's shoulder, barked angrily at him. Harry, who could understand the phoenix language, agreed. The Dursleys' deserved their payment now.

Harry wished he had a wand. Wandless magic was extremely effective, but having a wand would have been so much more dramatic. Sighing, he stalked up the stairs, Mia following. Harry blasted open the doors to Dudley's room and extended an arm. A burst of flame sent the child running to his parents. Even at the age of six, Dudley was gigantic, and Harry chuckled as the fat pig waddled to his parents.

He strode through the doors to the master bedroom and laughed when he saw Vernon with a shotgun in his hands.

"Do you really think that will work?" Harry asked. When Vernon pulled the trigger, Harry transfigured the scattering pellets into small birds, which immediately began picking at the vulnerable areas of the Dursleys. Mia was enjoying using the shotgun as a club to beat them.

"Wh- Why are you doing this?" Dudley cried.

"Are you an imbecile? You used me as a slave! You beat me for using my natural gifts! Now, I think that its time that you understand exactly what it is that you've done. Opening a one-way link to the minds of the three Dursleys, Harry channeled the years of abuse, pain, and suffering. He directed it through the link. The Dursleys were reduced to sobbing babies. It wasn't enough. Mia said to use a certain spell.

Harry sent a mental healing spell at the Dursleys. Mia wanted them fully aware of what was about to happen. "_Imperium Viscus Fatalis_." He intoned. The spell was one that he had created to punish the bastard who'd killed his daughter. It literally ripped out the victim's internal organs, keeping them awake and alive until the heart was removed last. He'd also transformed it into a healing spell, one that allowed direct healing of the internal organs.

Harry watched with a grim satisfaction as the Dursleys were ripped apart. He knew that they hadn't deserved the torture, but Hermione had always hated the idea of parental figures who could act like that, especially towards Harry. Thinking of the torture reminded Harry of Dumbledore. He cast an incomplete cloning spell. It wouldn't create a real clone, only a body that was incapable of thought or feelings. Then, Harry spoke. "_Incindio Maxima_!" The house exploded as Harry Apparated away.

* * *

Harry crouched in Antarctica. The magic permeating his being had carried over to this time as well, so he wasn't bothered by the cold. He cast a detection spell, then located what he'd come to the frozen tundra to find. Calculating the exact depth and the surrounding conditions, Harry crafted a new spell. It created a field around the object that not only allowed the user to manipulate the object, it also generated enough heat to melt through ice. Once the metal sphere cleared the surface of the ice, he allowed the spell to fade and pocketed his prize.

Then, he set about crafting a Glamour. It was a fairly simple spell, but a very important one. He couldn't go around Diagon Alley looking like a five year-old child. The illusion was set to about age 22. Once it was complete, he Apparated to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron. He entered and greeted Tom. Then, Harry walked to the entryway and realized something. Without a wand, he couldn't create the gateway. He simply Apparated to the other side of the barrier. Then, he set off to Gringotts.

* * *

Once Harry arrived, he respectfully greeted the goblin in his native language and asked him to call the head goblin. Putting aside his surprise at receiving such respect from a wizard, the goblin called for the head goblin. The goblin agreed to meet him and Harry entered his office.

"I would like to have access to my family's ancestral vault, as well as my personal vault. My name is Harry James Potter." Harry said.

"Ah," the goblin checked his records. "According to the ledgers, you are only five years old." He squinted at Harry, as if to pierce the glamour with no more than vision.

Humoring the goblin, Harry pulled away his glamour. "Yes, I am very young. However, it makes things… difficult when everyone treats me as a child. My deepest apologies for deceiving you." Harry bowed and the goblin, surprised, gestured for him to stand.

"No matter, no matter." he said magnanimously. "Unfortunately, to gain access to your family vaults, you would need to be of age and possess proof of your claim." He looked at Harry. "Do you possess any evidence?"

Reaching into his pocket, Harry reached into his future self and retrieved the Potter family signet ring, which he had found amid the wreckage of his old house. It was a fairly simple process, it only required a vast amount of magic and a different way of thinking. He already possessed the objects, so he simply had to be able to remember when and where the object was. He also retrieved the key to the Griffindor Vault, although he would not be able to enter that vault yet.

Harry pulled out the ring. "Is this sufficient?" he asked.

"Quite. Unfortunately, I still cannot allow you to enter the vault until you turn 17." The goblin said.

He escorted Harry to the cart and ordered Griphook to take him to the vault. Once they got there, Harry realized that he had forgotten a bag and simply created an extradimensional space in one of his pockets, in a similar manner to how wizard tents were bigger on the inside than the outside. He shoveled galleons into the pocket.

Once he had enough gold, he rode back to the surface. He thanked the goblins, replaced his Glamour, and headed over to Olivander's. It was time that he reunite with an old friend.

* * *

When he walked in, Harry immediately felt the presence of his wand. He placed a strong Compulsion charm on it, one powerful enough to affect even Voldemort. Once the strange old man had finished measuring his arm, he immediately pulled out the phoenix wand. The man handed the box to Harry, who waved it once. A wave of sparks lit the shop, setting it ablaze.

"Oops." Muttered Harry, who waved it again and shouted. "_Aguamenti_!" The fire was instantly struck by the exact amount of water necessary to turn them both into steam. Harry pointed the wand at Olivander. "_Obliviate Subtilis_." He said calmly. The precise memory charm removed Olivander's memory of the little firestorm.

"Curious." He muttered. "Very curious."

Knowing what he was about to say, Harry caught the man's attention. "How much for this and a wand sheath?"

He passed over the galleons and left the shop, still not liking the place. Harry immediately ducked into a nearby alley. He threw up more than a dozen charms for invisibility and unnoticability. He also threw up containment spells, to hide magical emanations. He removed the metal sphere from his pocket. Placing it on the ground, it balanced perfectly, in a way that no sphere should be able to do. He pressed a finger to it and channeled his magical energy into it. It melted into a pool. He raised the wand, then lowered it tip first into the puddle of silver liquid. The wand sank all of the way in to the puddle, the pool shrinking the deeper the wand got.

Once the pool was merely a drop, the wand began to rise. It was coated with the magical metal, the wood of the wand becoming blue-tinged metal with silver around it. A rune glowed just above the handle of the wand. Harry waved the wand once and the spells surrounding him were gone. He sheathed the wand and walked out, having other shopping needs.

* * *

**Okay, here's chapter 2. I'll keep posting them, but I'd like some reviews. It would give me incentive to work faster... **


	3. Conflict

Harry sat in his new flat outside the Leaky Cauldron. He'd warded it under everything from the Fidelius charm to war-level defensive wards. The kind of wards that make an enemy wish that they'd never been born. It was Unplottable and warded from Portkeys and Apparition by anyone who didn't know the secret. He made sure that no one would breach his home again. A shudder passed through him as, for an instant, he saw the cold body of his daughter. Every light in Diagon Alley shorted out for an instant and a tremor shook the buildings. It was as if the entire alley was mourning along with him.

He took a breath of fresh air. He was at the window, reading _Hogwarts; A History,_ because it reminded him of Hermione. Every time Mia was out flying without him, he started to feel depression setting in. He usually picked up a book at that time, one that Hermione had quoted to him. Just reading it made him remember her: the sound of her voice, the scent of her hair, the feel of her skin. Since he had mastered Temporal Magic, the sensation had gone from mental to actual. It allowed him to bring his senses back to the exact moment where he'd felt the sensation.

He looked over to the trunk and sighed. He'd purchased a trunk with multiple compartments, then expanded on the charm. Each of the five compartments was the size of a small house, even having multiple rooms. He could alter the rooms with a thought. One of them was filled with books that would rival the collection of the Hogwarts library. Actually, his library was more complete, seeing as it had books from the future as well as those rare books that were considered too dangerous for students. Another contained a room filled with clothing. It had muggle clothes, dress robes, school uniforms, even armor. It also had a weapon rack for those magical weapons that Harry had collected. The third contained a living space, complete with a bed, a couch, chairs, a table and a Floo-capable fireplace. He would only use the space if he needed to hide or he was away from his bed, but it was nice to have.

Suddenly, Harry heard a scream. He pulled on a cloak and initiated his Glamour. He ran, moving as fast as any vehicle, until he found the source. A couple of people with ragged clothes and savage countenances were dragging a young girl away. Harry could see the curse of the werewolf upon them, clear as it would have been if they'd worn nametags. He pulled out his wand. Mid-run, he chanted "_Arma Magestus_" as he ran his arm from the top of his hand to about two feet past the tip. A metal blade appeared. It was the Sword of Griffindor. The silvery blade cut through one of them, and Harry extended an arm, a pulse of magical force throwing the second wolf back. Before it could get far, Harry had impaled it with the sword.

He pulled out the sword and released the spell. The wand returned to normal. He rushed back to the girl, hoping that his eyes had made a mistake. They hadn't. The girl had a large bite in her left arm. She was going to change. Everyone around was hysteric, running and screaming. Harry had no choice. He placed the wand on the girl's cut and began a long incantation. As he spoke, he pulled his wand away, bringing white and red threads with it. Men had run up to pull him away from the girl, thinking that he was going to harm her. They'd run into a barrier that Harry had placed subconsciously. They could only watch as he fought to save the poor girl.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Harry pulled the wand away for the last time, this time extracting a large black mutating sphere. With a twirl of his wand, the cords wrapped around the sphere and it vanished. He also removed the barrier. A woman, obviously the girl's mother ran over to her. She looked at the wound, which had healed, then up at Harry.

"She'll be fine, Ma'am." He said in a deep voice that was not his own. "I managed to extract the poison before it got too deep rooted."

"Thank you! Thank you!" The woman cried, tears pouring down her face.

Harry nodded to her and began to walk away. "What's your name?" The woman begged. Harry paused.

"I have none. Call me Phoenix." He said softly.

"Thank you, Phoenix. If you ever need help-" She started.

"Really. I don't need any thanks. It was good enough that she's fine. Good bye." Before the woman could protest, Harry Disapparated.

* * *

Back in his sanctuary, Harry laid down on his bed. Two days and already he was butting into things that he wasn't a part of. He remembered a time in his old world, fifty years back. The Death Eater attack. They'd been after vengeance.

* * *

"Crucio_!" One of the Death Eaters had shouted, the last Auror screeching in agony as the curse hit her._

_With a silent stunner, Harry had paralyzed the man, ending his curse. He turned and set another aflame. Before the man could do anything, he removed the man's neck with a Severing Charm. Unknown to Harry, a green jet of light was shooting towards his back._

"Protego Ultima_!" Hermione had shouted. A crackling field of light had absorbed the Unforgivable Curse. It shattered instantly. Harry hit the man with a fireball and turned, kissing Hermione._

_She stopped everything for a moment, then pushed him away. "Not now, Harry!" She said sternly, the effect ruined by her flushed cheeks. _

"_Why?" Harry asked, innocently. Hermione indicated the Death Eaters. "So?"_

_Laughing, Hermione spun around, fighting back to back with Harry. Jets of light exploded from her wand as she fired of a chain of spells. From her left hand, a blade of light materialized, allowing her to attack any enemies that came close. Every spell she fired hit its mark._

_On the other side, Harry stood. Waves of energy flowed from his wand as he directed them, like a conductor. Bolts of energy leapt from him to strike enemies. When he struck, the impact almost always took them down. Sometimes, it hit the nearby enemies as well. _

_They fought as one, she struck like lightning, quick and powerful. He was a tidal wave, pure destruction that obliterated anything in its path. The two fighters either killed or incapacitated dozens of Death Eaters. Eventually, they separated to finish off the few stragglers. _

_Harry summoned the Sword of Griffindor, using its magical properties to send a blade of energy following his swings. He drove it into the ground and the ground cracked, a fissure connecting him to the Death Eater. A plume of flame enveloped the man, once the fissure reached him. He hurled the blade at another, striking him in the neck, then used wandless magic to take out another who was sneaking up on him. _

_Hermione fired off a pair of stunners, the blade of light keeping the enemies at bay. They'd seen the destruction the woman could inflict with the sword. Several disintegrated corpses were evidence of that. She gestured and a 360 degree wave of force knocked the enemies back. She hurled the sword into the air, then fired a spell at it. It shattered, a thousand shards striking the enemies with pinpoint accuracy. At least a dozen shards were in each Death Eater. _

_After checking the battlefield, Harry and Hermione embraced, meeting in the middle of the battlefield. The two lovers kissed amidst the destruction. They were a point of light, the one thing holding back the darkness._

* * *

**I wanted to establish two facts with this chapter. The first being that he is still a hero, despite everything. The second is how much he needs Hermione. I might not have done a good job, but I wanted to convey the idea that the thought of being with her is what kept him going. The presence of Mia, who contains Hermione's spirit, is the only thing that keeps him grounded. I want to know what people thought about my scenes. I do pay attention to suggestions. Keep the reviews coming!**


	4. Reunion

The next six years passed in a blur, literally. Harry used a Temporal spell to accelerate his perceptions. He could still interact with reality, but when he wasn't doing anything, he didn't notice time passing. He couldn't explain the spell to anyone, because, again, one's mind must work differently in order for Temporal Magic to become possible. However, the spell was functional and it did keep Harry alive for the next few years. He'd set the spell to end on March 1st, giving him six months to get his things in order for Hogwarts. He'd already sent in his confirmation that he would be attending.

* * *

It was exactly fifteen weeks, four days, 23 hours, 4 minutes, and 26 seconds since the spell ended. He saw her. She was exiting the gateway, eyes full of wonder. His mind lurched forward and what little remained of his conscious mind actually had to cast a Full-Body-Bind on himself. He remained there until he was able to convince his more sensible half that he wouldn't rush her. **(Remember, he's not all there. He gets most of his marbles back after he finally reunites with Hermione. He has two parts of his mind so that he can cast different spells simultaneously. Normally, he has total control, but not right now.)**

He exited his flat, taking care not to use his glamour. He didn't really need it anymore. He approached her nonchalantly while she was about to enter Flourish and Blotts.

"Hello there." She said. _Oh God, Harry thought. It's really her!_ "Are you attending Hogwarts as well?" She asked, not really noticing the strange reaction.

"Y-Y-yes." He choked out.

She extended her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger. What's your name?"

He shook her hand, nearly passing out when his glove-covered hands touched her skin. He was very lucky that he had worn them today. "Ha- Harry Potter." He choked out.

"Do you have a cold or something?" She asked, confused.

"No… I'm fine. It's just-" Before he could say anything stupid, Mia flew down and butted him in the head. "OW! Mia?!" Harry barked.

"Oh. My. God." Hermione said in shock. "Is that a Phoenix?!"

"Y-Yes she is." Harry said.

"I've read about them." She said, still in awe. "I can't believe that you have a silver and blue one. Finding one that's only slightly differently colored is incredibly rare! That one must have cost a fortune!" She said enviously.

"Um… She's not a pet. She's my friend." _And she's the only thing that kept me sane, until I found you._

"Oh. I read about that too. I just didn't believe it." She said. "I mean, it's just a bird." Mia huffed at that comment and flew away.

"SHE" Harry said. "Is not just a bird." _If I were talking to anyone else, I'd just transmute them into something like a rat for Mia to eat and walk away. _

"Sorry." She whimpered, cowering.

Then, Harry realized something. He had entered full battle mode. Objects around him were breaking. He was towering, radiating magic. His aura, the powerful energies that his body emanated, had crackled into existence. It was something that only the most powerful wizards were capable of and it enhanced their power manifold. He couldn't believe that he'd just done that to Hermione.

"No. I'm sorry" he said, forcing the energies to back down. "I just… She's my only family." He was suddenly in tears. He couldn't understand what was wrong with him.

Hermione cautiously rose to her feet, moving closer, trying to make sure that he was okay. "What about your parents?"

Harry chuckled bitterly. "I'm the Boy-Who-Lived. I have no parents."

She mouthed the words Boy-Who-Lived. "Oh no."

"It's okay. I've gotten used to it." _Not really. I just wouldn't do anything to you._

"I'm so sorry." She whispered as she hugged him.

Suddenly, a surge of rampant power ripped through the world. Harry Potter's eyes glazed over for a moment as his power was released for a split second. The tremor had caused her to push further into him as he crouched over her, like a protective lion. A loose block of wood had fallen and smashed into Harry's back, right where Hermione's head had been.

"Wha- What was that?" She asked.

"I- It- I'm not sure." Harry said, trying to find an answer that wouldn't be a lie. Technically, he wasn't sure of what the block was. The tremor, that had been him.

"Hermione!" A voice shouted.

"Dad! Mom!" Hermione yelled, running to her parents. She paused, then ran back, grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him over. "Come on!"

"I- I don't-" He began. But Hermione wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Who are you?" Her father asked, suspicious.

This was a situation that Harry had dealt with before. He extended a hand. "Harry James Potter." He fought the urge to answer all of the questions the man was about to ask.

"Where are your parents? Why are you here? Are you also going to Hogwarts? What are you doing with my little girl?" He growled. Hermione looked aghast as her father launched a barrage of questions at her new friend.

"In order, dead, school shopping, yes, and I just saved her from a falling block that probably would have killed her." _That I accidentally dislodged as a result of my love for her that's been repressed for sixteen years causing my powers to discharge._

The man stopped short. "I'm sorry. I didn-"

"It's not a problem." _I've had one hundred and twenty three years to get over it._

"No really. I-"

"I said it's fine." Harry said.

"Well, I really must thank you. At least join us for a meal at the… what was the pub's name?"

"Oh. The Leaky Cauldron."

"Yes, there."

Harry shrugged. "Sure. I don't have any plans." _And if I did, I'd drop them in a second!_

"Well, I should probably find your guardians…"

"I don't have any." _I destroyed them six years ago for torturing me and using me as a slave._

"Oh. So you're…"

"I have a flat over near the entrance." _So that I could look for your daughter and the moment she finally arrived._

"I didn't see any flats over there…"

"It's sealed with magic. Unless I tell them the address, it can't be seen."

"That's so cool!" Hermione said.

"Well… please join us for dinner." Mrs. Granger said.

"I'd love to, ma'am." Harry said. _And I'd probably butt in even if I wasn't invited._

* * *

After dinner, which Harry paid for despite the complaints of the Grangers, he took Hermione to look around the alley while her parents had a private moment. He showed her the locations of all of the shops, bought her school supplies over her arguments, and took her to the ice cream parlor.

"Order anything you'd like." Harry said.

"Really… You don't have to pay for all of this…" Hermione said. She couldn't even remember why she'd agreed to let him.

"I don't care." He said. _And I'll just hit you with another Compulsion Charm if you disagree… It's all your money too. _

She sighed and ordered. "Thank you so much for everything!" She said.

"It's not a problem." _Unfortunately, I have to talk to Mia before I can restore your memories. I'm not a hundred percent sure exactly how to do it. I'll do it on the train._

"How can I repay you?" She pressed.

"Just be my friend. You're the only one I've ever had…" _Well, in this world anyway._

Her eyes were wet after that comment. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. Just come back tomorrow, ok?" _If you don't, I'll come find you. _

She nodded. "Okay."

* * *

**Sorry if that got a little confusing. The italics are Harry's inner thoughts. Please Review! **


	5. She's Back

The next few days were the happiest that Harry had had in sixteen years. He'd spent all of his time either with Mia, who was helping him learn how to separate the two souls, or with Hermione, who had come back to Diagon Alley every day as Harry helped her get used to the Wizarding world. When a snooty looking wizard had called Hermione a Mudblood when she'd bumped into him. He'd wandlessly cast a spell that had melted the bones of the man. Only the ones on the side that Hermione had touched. The worthless man wasn't worthy of touching her. She'd given him a quick glance as the man had screamed in agony and collapsed, his entire left side seeming to loose its shape.

She didn't know what the word "Mudblood" meant, but from Harry's reaction she could guess. She looked at him again. He was incredibly powerful, that much was obvious. From what she had read, an eleven year old should have barely been able to melt a large rock. But Harry had just melted the bones in the man. He hadn't affected anything else. Either she was incredibly weak or he was something else. She blinked at him, then flashed him a smile. She didn't really care what he was. He made her feel safe and happy.

* * *

They arrived at Kings' Cross Station. Harry helped Hermione get her things onto a trolley, silently using a feather-light charm to make things easier for her. He showed her how to get onto platform 9 ¾. Once there, they loaded their things and found an open compartment. He'd sealed it, using enough power that even Voldemort would have had trouble getting in.

He saw the Weasley's enter the platform. This time, he wouldn't make the mistake of trusting Ronald. He'd turned tail and run mid-battle, abandoning his family and friends, getting several of them killed. When he found Harry after the battle, he tried to use the excuse of the Imperius curse. Harry had laughed at the pathetic attempt at an excuse. _If he'd been under the Imperius curse, he would have attacked us._ It was more than that, however. Harry could actually see the fact that he'd had no magic at work on him at the time. When Harry wouldn't let him back in and ordered him to leave, Ron had attacked, attempting to use a Killing Curse. Hermione had noticed and used a jinx to knock Harry out of the path. He'd caught Ron with a Severing Charm at the shoulder, incapacitating. Hermione had used Legilmency to find that the bastard had accepted a bribe to kill Harry. They'd tied him up and left him to rot.

He checked the wards and added a bit more. He shielded the windows and made sure that the doors were actually reinforced. No one would get in until Hermione was back. His Hermione.

"What are you doing to the doors?" Hermione asked.

"I need to ask you some questions, and I can't let anyone interfere." He cast a charm to detect any living beings within the area. Besides Hermione, there was only Mia, who was outside the window racing the train until Harry needed her.

"What?"

"Please, please believe me." He whispered. "Everything I am about to tell you is the truth." He paused, then told her everything.

* * *

"So… you're saying that I was your wife in another world and that I died so you've been desperate to find a way to bring me back. You sent yourself back in time to the age of five and have been waiting for this moment." Hermione said.

"You don't believe me." Harry said. Then he raised his wand. Hermione flinched and Harry was horrified. "I would never hurt you. Ever. If you wanted to kill me, I wouldn't fight back. I plan to make an Unbreakable Vow."

"I would never kill you." She said vehemently. "What's an Unbreakable Vow?"

"It is a magical oath. If you break it, you die." He said simply. "I, Harry James Potter, do hereby declare that everything I have told Hermione Jean Granger in this car is the truth." There was a blinding glow and Harry lowered his wand.

"Wow… So it's all true?" Hermione said.

Harry opened the wards to allow Mia and only Mia in. "Yes." He said miserably.

"So, what are you planning to do?" She asked.

"Well… My wife is sharing the body of a phoenix. I was hoping that I could transfer her to your body but that might get rid of you and I couldn't ask you to do that…" Harry trailed off.

"I'll do it." She said.

"I mean, it's just a ridiculous thing to ask, possible nonexistence in exchange for the happiness of one 123 year old boy… Wait, did you say you'll do it?" He said, dumbstruck.

"Sure. I mean, it's just an older me, right?" She asked.

"Yes." Harry said. "I was afraid that you would be different, but even your mannerisms are identical. She is exactly what you would be in several decades. But are you sure? I mean… you're probably going to cease existing…"

"That's okay." Hermione said, shocked at her own response. "I want to be with you and, if she feels anything like I do, I won't get in the way. Besides," she said slyly, "we're already married in the future, right?"

"Yes. We're even soulmates, which means that our marriage transcends even temporal boundaries." He said. "Wait, you don't mean…"

A smirk appeared on her face. "What do I have to do?" She asked.

"Just relax." He said.

Mia nuzzled Hermione's shoulder as Harry raised his wand. He tapped Mia's head and then tapped Hermione. A line of light linked the two points "_Hermione Jean Potter nee Granger, Essentia Transmia a corpus Hermione Jean Granger." _Harry intoned, mystical energies ripping the air apart. The entire world shuddered as Harry Potter opened up his power, forcing every last bit of spirit from the phoenix to the girl's body. Blood leaked from his eyes as the magic became even stronger. The Hogwarts Express shut down. Then, it was over. Everything returned to normal.

Harry collapsed, not knowing if his job had been successful. He saw Hermione's face and smiled, then frowned as he tasted blood. The blood was already fading, as his magical energies set about repairing his body. She leaned over him.

"Thank you, Harry." She said. "It's so good to look upon your face with human eyes. Not that I have a problem with phoenixes!" She said to Mia. "But its been so long…"

For the first time in sixteen years, Hermione Jean Potter kissed her husband.

* * *

With Hermione's spirit in a new body, Mia was finally free to bond with Harry as his true familiar, since Hedwig had died in the original timeline and Harry hadn't felt comfortable buy her again with Mia around. He felt the phoenix link to his mind, their consciousness' merging for an instant. When the sensation subsided, Mia decided that she needed to eat and flew away.

Harry woke Hermione, who had fallen asleep after such an intensely powerful ritual. "What? What happened? Where're my wings?!" Hermione suddenly shouted. "Oh." Harry laughed. "That's going to take some getting used to."

"I have something for you." Harry said.

Harry gestured to his trunk with the wand and it opened. A tiny box flew out, landing in his hand. He passed it to her and she held it up, confused. "Harry, what-"

Harry tapped the shrunken trunk with his wand, enlarging it. It was a three section trunk. She opened it up and was delighted to find all of her books were inside, along with enough clothing and equipment to last her through a dozen Hogwarts'. She kissed Harry.

"How'd you do it?" She asked, looking at one of her favorite books. It had been written twenty years before her death. "I mean, this book hasn't been printed yet…"

"Remember, I'm the Master of Temporal Magic." Harry said with a smirk. "It would be easy to-"

"Don't even try to be evasive with me, Mr. Potter." She interrupted. "You are not capable of stealing objects in the future, and I know for a fact that this isn't my copy."

Harry sighed. "I guess that the days where I could pull a fast one over on you are long gone…" He muttered.

"That's right." Hermione said with a giggle.

"Fine." He said. "I wrote it."

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused.

"I mean that I spent weeks reconstructing your favorite books by memory." He said.

Hermione was shocked. "That's… That's impossible. Not even magic can do something like this."

Harry sighed. "That's why I didn't tell you. I did them all by hand. I built the framework with magic, used some recall spells for the exact pages, and… Voila!" He chuckled. "A complete copy, including the thirty three typos and two hundred forty-six grammatical errors."

Hermione stared at him in shock and looked down. "Damn this underdeveloped body." She muttered. Then, she leaned towards him and pressed her lips to his, kissing him in a manner that would have definitely gotten them both detentions.

* * *

**I'm sorry if the love scenes are a bit pathetic. I'm not much good at them. Also, for those Ron and Neville lovers, I'm sorry, but Ron is going to become essentially another Draco. Neville is going to be worse, but I might make him come around. It definitely won't happen for a while. Next chapter is the Sorting. Go Ravenclaw! (hint hint). Please Review!**


	6. Sorting and Storm

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, and Harry had dispelled the wards. However, about two minutes before they were told to change into their wizarding clothes, a pair of boys strode in. The first was blond and slightly short. The other was tall, with red hair and freckles.

Ron Weasley and Neville thought with a chuckle. He silently cast a wandless spell that bestowed bad luck, as he extended his hand. "Hello, I'm Harry Potter." He said.

"I'm Albus Dumbledore's apprentice, Neville Longbottom." Neville said imperiously. As he stepped forward to shake Harry's hand, he tripped on his own feet. He shivered.

Of course… Harry thought. Dumbledore would choose the other possible child of prophecy to become his minion, once he thought that Harry was dead. He'd obviously gone with a different tactic on this boy. The strategy had obviously worked. Neville was prouder when he said Dumbledore's name than when he had said his own.

Ron stepped forward to shake Harry's hand as well, but Hermione cast a hex that knocked his legs out from under him and he fell onto Neville. They never knew that they'd been spelled. Harry and Hermione laughed. "Wow, you're clumsy." Hermione said with a chuckle. The two stood and walked to their trunks. As they did, Hermione stomped on Ron's hand, breaking several bones in it. Harry "tripped" over Neville, "accidentally" kicking him in the stomach. They grabbed their trunks and wandered off, looking for another place. "I guess we're pretty clumsy too!" The two chortled as they made their way to another compartment.

Hermione had never forgiven Ron for the incidents that had resulted in the deaths of Ginny, Arthur, and Bill. Harry, on the other hand, hated Neville because of the destruction of 12 Grimmauld Place. Neville had gone quite insane after the battle of St. Mungo's in the second year of the war. He had used all of his magic to turn himself into a living bomb, blowing up the Order's headquarters. It had destroyed most of Harry's last links to his godfather. Lupin and Mad-Eye had been seriously wounded by the blast as well.

* * *

As the Hogwarts Express pulled to a stop, Harry shrunk his trunk, while Hermione did likewise. It wouldn't do for someone to accidentally trip the wards and get themselves killed. There were things inside that no one from this time should see. As they passed through the gates on their way to the lake, Harry heard a voice.

"Welcome back, Lord and Lady." The school itself whispered to Harry and Hermione. "It is good to have you within my walls again."

"It's good to be back." Harry murmured back. They were referred to as Lord and Lady because they were by blood, battle, inheritance, or marriage, Heirs to all of the Founders. Harry was a descendent of Griffindor and Ravenclaw. Hermione was also a distant descendant of Ravenclaw. He had, by beating Voldemort, gained the title of Heir of Slytherin. When the last of the Weasleys had died, Harry had been given the title Heir of Hufflepuff. Thus, Harry was literally the Heir of Hogwarts.

He and Hermione found an empty boat and got going. On the way to the castle, Hermione waved her wand. As Ron and Neville were crossing, the giant squid flipped their boat, throwing them into the water. Harry and Hermione laughed as the two buffoons sputtered on the water they'd inadvertently swallowed.

* * *

Harry and Hermione were quite happy to see Professor McGonagall. She had died in the battle of Hogwarts two years before Voldemort's death. She led them from the lake to the Great Hall.

Hermione was confused when "Granger, Hermione" was skipped. She looked at Harry confused. Harry, on the other hand, knew exactly what had happened. When his name, "Potter, Harry" was called, he stood. There were whispers throughout the Hall as he stood. He wasn't surprised. They'd all been told that the Boy-Who-Lived had died with his muggle family.

"You'll be next." He whispered to Hermione. "Don't worry, Mrs. Potter." Hermione smiled at that, realizing what he meant.

* * *

Harry sat on the stool and slid the Sorting Hat onto his head. "I see that you were successful. You have made it back, My Lord." The hat said to his mind

"Indeed. I have found her again." He replied mentally. He wasn't surprised that the hat knew about his plans. He'd discussed them with it, after all. He'd suspected that the hat, due to its link to Hogwarts, would remember.

"Well, My Lord, where do you wish to go? As the Heir to Hogwarts, you have the right to decide. Dumbledore wants you in Griffindor."

"Ravenclaw." Harry said immediately. "The Lady decided on the train."

"Very well." The hat said.

"RAVENCLAW!" The word boomed throughout the Great Hall. Dumbledore stood stunned.

"There must be a mistake!" He shouted at the hat through a mental link. As Headmaster of Hogwarts, he could communicate with any object of the school. "He needs to be in Griffindor. He has to identify himself with bravery and selflessness! He needs to be in the house associated with heroes !" The hat only said: "There is no mistake. He is in Ravenclaw."

Harry removed the hat and set it onto the stool, hearing the applause of the stunned school. He found a seat that was in an empty area of the Ravenclaw table. He watched as Professor McGonagall paused for a moment. Then, "Potter, Hermione" was called. That caused even more whispers. Every teacher was stunned. Dumbledore looked dazed. The moment that the hat had neared her head, before it had even settled, it shouted "RAVENCLAW" again. Harry smiled at her as the table burst into applause again.

* * *

"How did that happen?" Hermione asked after the feast.

"How did what happen?" Harry replied.

"The name change on the list… My name should still be Granger here." She said.

"Oh. That. Well, the list displays the True names of everyone. Because our marriage transcends time, you are still Hermione Potter." He explained.

"Oh."

A pale faced boy, flanked by two gorilla-like boys, walked up behind Harry. "I'm Draco Malfoy. You're the famous Harry Potter." He said. He eyed Hermione with disgust. "You should know that hanging around filth like-"

As Harry saw him, Draco froze as a chill wind blew through the Great Hall. Malfoy was thrown away, Crabbe and Goyle fell atop him. Light streamed from Harry's wand as he drew it from within his robes. His eyes were glazed over. Not sure what was happening, Hermione pressed a finger to a point on his back and sent a pulse of magical energy through his muscles. He instantly relaxed, the wind ceasing and he fell back to his seat. The wand dropped from limp fingers and Hermione picked it up. She looked into Harry's eyes, wondering what was happening.

* * *

_He raised the wand. Magical energy so strong that it was visible streamed from the tip as he brought it down like a two-handed sword. A meteor of raw magic smashed into Malfoy Manor and shattered the entrance. The wards were broken and the gates were gone, along with the front of the house. _

_He slashed with his wand, destroying some of the statues that had come to life. He removed a small metal rod from his pocket, Apparated into the house, and cast it into the ground. Then, he held his hand over it. Lightning arched from his palm to the small metal pole. It lengthened, going from a foot in length, to a meter and a half. It began to pulse as a magical bubble enveloped Malfoy Manor. No one would be leaving the ancestral house tonight. _

_Several men, dressed as Death Eaters, attacked him. His wand became the Sword of Griffindor. He drove it through one man's chest, then reversed it and rammed it into a man who was attacking him from behind. By the time he had pointed it at a third man, it was a wand again. A blast of magical energy ripped through the man._

_With a cutting motion, he beheaded another man. He summoned a fireball and hurled it into the right wall. The wall he'd hit exploded, sending deadly shards of wood in all directions. Harry spun his wand, a sphere of light encircling him as he shouted: "_Protego Ultima!_" It was Hermione's spell. The only defensive spell capable of blocking an Unforgivable Curse. _

_Several green jets of light smashed into the barrier, to no avail. He dispelled it, simultaneously releasing a wave of sapphire flames that engulfed everything. He stalked up the half-destroyed stairs, instinctively destroying anyone who tried to attack him. With a gesture, the doors exploded. Inside stood Draco Malfoy and his father, Lucius. _

"_WHY?!!" Harry screamed. "WHY WOULD YOU KILL HER?! THE WAR IS OVER! VOLDEMORT IS DEAD!!!" He'd found traces of an extremely subtle and deadly poison in Hermione's bloodstream. Only his power had enabled his detection spell to locate the poison. No other wizard would have been able to locate the insidious toxin. He'd traced it to Draco._

_Lucius barely managed to keep from quivering in fear as he replied. "You destroyed the Dark Lord. You do not deserve happiness, especially with a Mudblood wh-" His head exploded before he could complete the insult, fire ravaging his corpse._

_Harry waved his wand and knocked Draco to the ground. He Apparated to stand above Draco. "Die, you filthy little inbred bastard." He screamed. He shoved the tip of the wand through the center of Draco's chest. "MAGIA INCENDIA!" _

_Draco screamed in absolute agony as his magical energies turned into flame. Every last bit of magical power in his body was transmuted into deadly fire. Even if Draco had somehow survived, he would have never been able to use magic again. But there was no possible way for him to have survived. The spell incinerated him completely. Harry left the scene, Apparating outside the Manor. He transmuted the entire structure into nothing more than air, including everything within it. Then, Harry disappeared._

_

* * *

  
_

"-at happened?" Harry heard Hermione say.

"What?" He asked, shaking off the aftereffects of the memory.

"You blanked out suddenly. There was this wind… Draco's going to the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore said that you need to go find him tomorrow. Thankfully, not many people noticed." It was then that Harry noticed his surroundings. He was in the Ravenclaw common room.

"Are you sure you want to hear?" He asked.

"Yes. You obviously need to talk about it anyway." She replied.

He sighed. He'd sworn to himself that he would never keep something from someone 'for their own good'. "It was two days after you died. I found residue of poison in your blood that I traced back to Draco. I destroyed him, the manor, and the remaining Death Eaters." He transferred the memory across their mental link.

"Oh my god." She said, seeing the nightmare. "You really… You shouldn't have used that spell. It could have killed you. It's a nightmarish spell." She was obviously ignoring the fact that he had killed all of the Death Eaters. She knew all of the atrocities that they had committed.

"It only needs as much magic as he has. I knew that he didn't even have a fraction of my power. He deserved it." Harry said. If the curse had been usable for normal people, he knew, it would have been the worst of the Unforgivables. It caused a thousand times more pain than the Cruciatus curse and destroyed the victim utterly. "He deserved it." He said again, almost breaking down again at the thought of Hermione's death.

The two cuddled together in the common room for the next hour in silence, reminiscing about the future.

* * *

**I've decided that I'll use two lines to represent flashbacks, along with italics. If anyone sees a problem with the story, please let me know.**

**Also, thank you to everyone that has favorited my story. I'll try to publish as fast as possible. Keep the reviews coming!**


	7. The Heirs' Chambers

Harry walked up to the gargoyle that hid the entrance to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle simply got up and moved, not even waiting for a password. Harry chuckled. It was nice being the Heir.

"Harry. Please, come in." Dumbledore said, hiding his surprise that Harry had gotten past the gargoyle. "Sit down."

Harry sat in the chair opposite Dumbledore. "What do you need, Professor? I have flying lessons in two hours."

"Harry, I'd like to know why you decided to throw Mr. Malfoy across the Great Hall. His fath-"

"He insulted my wife." Harry stated, cutting him off. "As she is my soulmate, the laws clearly state that I can retaliate in whatever manner I deem necessary to protect her. "

Dumbledore leaned back. "How are you married already? You are only eleven. That cannot be legal." He began to use Legilmency to probe the boy's mind.

"You're not listening." Harry said, shaking his head. "She is my _soulmate_. We were married the moment we kissed." _Which was more than a century ago._

"Be that as it may-" Dumbledore started, but suddenly froze. His mental probe had been deflected. It was not only stopped, but he was trapped, pinned by the sheer strength of Harry's mind.

"I'll thank you to keep the hell out of my head, Professor." Harry said flatly. "I will not be so tolerant next time." He pressed a bit harder on Dumbledore's mind before releasing him.

Shaking, Dumbledore groaned. Obviously the boy was a lot more powerful than he'd anticipated and was going to be uncooperative. "How did you survive the destruction of your aunt and uncle's home?" He asked. "They were found dead in their home. Your body was found there."

"I'd managed to sneak out and go for a morning walk. When I came back, the house was on fire and I ran away." Harry lied.

"You went to find help?" Dumbledore asked hopefully.

"Why would I look for help for people who beat me constantly? No, I just ran away." Harry stated calmly.

Dumbledore was shocked. This were not the actions of the hero Harry was supposed to be. He was supposed to be selfless. "Where have you been living?" Dumbledore asked.

"Diagon Alley. I've been emancipated for six years." Harry said.

"Well… I'm sure we can find a nice wizarding family to put you with... The Weasleys, the Diggo-" Dumbledore was already thinking of families that he could use to mold the boy properly.

"No." Harry said. "I'm happy the way I am."

"Harry, I really must insist-"

"No. I will not give up my emancipation. Oh, and you will find that you do not have access to my vaults or any form of legal control over me. I was quite surprised to find that you had complete control over my affairs. Some of those documents were quite suspicious… Why would my parents give you total control over their private vault and my legal affairs?" He looked straight at Dumbledore. "They were quite explicit that I not be sent to the Dursleys." He glared at Dumbledore, who was shocked.

"We- well, I-" Dumbledore tried to find a way to explain all of this. "It was for your protection. You needed to be unaware of the existence of the Wizarding world. Your fame would have corrupted you."

"Stop bullshitting me." Harry said angrily. Every word rang with powerful magic. Dumbledore felt the words like he'd been under the Imperius curse. He got up and turned around. "I know you forged those documents." Harry walked away, leaving a dumbstruck Dumbledore.

* * *

Harry walked down to the pitch hand-in-hand with Hermione. She'd laughed when he'd shared the experience of his meeting with Dumbledore. It had cooled her nerves about the flying lesson. She'd never been very good with broomsticks, even after a century of life. Harry was furious to see that the Griffindors and the Ravenclaws were together for flying lessons, meaning that he and Hermione were stuck with Ron and Neville.

They watched, bored, as Madam Hooch explained the basics of broomstick flight. Once she was done, she instructed the class on how to call their broomsticks.

Most of the brooms remained on the ground. Harry's jumped right into his hand and Hermione's wobbled through the air as it made its way to her hand. Once everyone had managed to call their brooms, they were given permission to actually ride. Harry rocketed into the sky, moving at incredible speeds.

Normally, broomsticks have a maximum speed. However, depending on the user's skill and magical power, this can be changed. This broomstick had a maximum speed of 65 mph. Harry was going somewhere around 150.

He performed maneuvers that even professional players wouldn't have been able to pull off. He called Mia and began to race her. The two circled the castle a dozen times before he was forced to land again. Everyone was shocked to see the silver and blue phoenix with Harry. He was surprised to see Neville and Ron on the ground. He detected recent magic and looked at Hermione, who was doing her best to look innocent.

He walked over to her. "What did you do?" He asked through their mental link.

"Well, I was definitely not responsible for the two silent, wandless Impediment Jinxes that knocked them off their broomsticks." She replied.

He chuckled. Madam Hooch walked over and complimented him on his flying. Harry thanked her and asked if he could take another ride, which she agreed. He raced with Mia for an hour, while Hermione laughed, acting as the spectator.

* * *

The next day, Harry and Hermione had Charms and double Transfiguration. In Charms, Hermione got annoyed when she saw Ron and Neville talking in the back of her Head of House's class. She cast a spell in their direction and all of their supplies began beating them, books hitting them in the head, quills drawing on their faces, and ink pouring itself over their heads. The casual use of advanced charms surprised Flitwick, but Hermione tried to pass it off as nothing, while Harry laughed in the background.

In Transfiguration, after Professor McGonagall's Animagus demonstration, Hermione turned to Harry.

"By the way, what was your Animagus form, anyway? I never got to see it." He'd developed the transformation while studying Temporal Magic.

"I'll show you later." He said with a chuckle. He was quite proud of his other shape, and it deserved a grand presentation.

She grumbled at him, but he ignored it. When McGonagall started passing out matches, Harry and Hermione turned theirs into needles instantly, earning ten points apiece for Ravenclaw. Harry then used wandless magic to cause Ron to accidentally light his match and drop it on McGonagall's robe. Hermione put it out with a jet of water, earning an additional twenty points, while Ron lost forty.

After that, Harry and Hermione transfigured their needles into rapiers and began to duel in the back of the class, laughing. The entire class watched their elegant swordplay. McGonagall was dumbstruck as she watched two tiny matches become a pair of rapiers. Hermione was wining when McGonagall walked over and confiscated the swords for distracting the class, but gave them each thirty points for such skillful Transfiguration.

* * *

The day after, they had Herbology and double Potions. Harry had always been bored by Herbology, but he was quite skilled at it. Hermione was, as in everything else, an expert at the subject. They received twenty points for answering all of Professor Sprout's questions correctly.

They left the class and went to the dungeons. Neither of them were quite sure how they were going to react to Snape, because, while he was a nasty Death-Eater-turned-professor, he had also been an excellent spy and, eventually, a friend. They walked into the class and sat down at the front of the class. Predictably, Snape began a barrage of extremely advanced questions aimed at Harry, who answered every question right and made sure that he did so in a manner that would not annoy Snape. Despite his best efforts, he found that Snape still tried to deduct points.

When Snape tried to take away points, a faint buzzing filled the room. "What the hell was that?" He asked.

"Um… That would be the school." Hermione said, annoyed at Snape's behavior. "The Heirs disapprove of unfair punishment and the school responds accordingly."

"Twenty points from Ravenclaw and a detention tonight with Filch for your cheek." Snape barked. Harry laughed. Snape turned to look at him. "Is there something you find funny about this, Potter? Thirty points from Ravenclaw and a detention as well!" The faint buzzing returned.

"You just don't get it." He said with a laugh. "The Heirs have total governance of Hogwarts, from the punishment of students to the castle itself. We say that you're being unfair and the punishment is denied3."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?" He spat.

Harry turned to Hermione. "Should we spell it out for him?" He asked.

"Sure, why not?" She replied.

"We are the Heirs to Hogwarts!" They said in unison.

The whole class laughed. "Pretty full of yourselves, aren't you?" laughed Ron.

Harry turned to glare at him. He sent a thought to the castle. A small hole opened up beneath Ron, he fell into it, and a shout of pain was heard in the nearby room. That shut the rest of the class up, but Harry and Hermione laughed as Ron walked back into the class with a bump on his head.

"Fifty points from-" Snape paused as the buzzing happened again. "JUST GET OUT!" He shouted. The whole class packed up and left.

* * *

Since they'd only been in class for thirty minutes, Harry and Hermione were sitting together in the Ravenclaw common room. Then he thought of something.

"Hey, Hermione."

"What's up?" She asked.

"Want to go find the Founders' Chamber?" He asked.

"You mean the Founders' secret dormitory? The place where they stayed in the castle?" She thought about it for a second. "Sure. Why not? Technically, it's ours. Where is it?"

Harry leaned away from her, aghast. "Something that Hermione doesn't know! It's a miracle!" He cried as they both began laughing.

"There're portals in each of the Common Rooms." He said. Harry walked over to a wall covered in bookshelves and started feeling at the wood. "Here we are." He beckoned to Hermione, who looked at the symbol that Harry had found.

"It's… a Ravenclaw raven." She muttered. "When did that get there?" She looked at Harry and was shocked to see him using his wand to cut open his index finger. "What are you doing!?" She shrieked.

"Calm down." Harry muttered. The wound healed instantly. "Damnit."

"What are you doing?" She asked, confused.

"It needs blood of a Founder, but I can't seem to get a cut to last long enough to drag it along…" He opened the wound again and managed to catch a couple of drops on the wand. "Excellent. Well, how would you like to see the Founders' private quarters?" He said, chuckling.

Harry gestured for Hermione to step away. When she did, he dragged his wand across the symbol. It activated, blazing blue as the bookshelf took on an identical glow. Harry grabbed onto Hermione and stepped into the light, Apparating as he did. He made sure that he wasn't thinking of any specific place, allowing the portal to take him and Hermione to their secret quarters.

* * *

They arrived in a glorious 5 sided chamber decorated in the colors of all four houses. Each wall had a different animal of the Hogwarts founders. The fifth side was the entrance to a living room. It was a lot like the common rooms of the dorms, but it was a lot smaller and a lot more luxurious.

Hermione walked in, but she couldn't see any other doors. "Where are we supposed to sleep? What about bathing and… other needs?" As she asked the questions, two doors appeared. She whistled. "Wow. It's like the Room of Requirement… This is so cool!" She turned to look at Harry, and saw him holding a plate of food.

"What?" He asked innocently. "I was hungry."

Hermione thought: I want some pumpkin juice. Instantly, a glass, filled with the chosen drink, appeared on the nearest flat surface (in this case a table). She was so surprised that she bumped into the table, knocking the glass over. As Harry laughed, she watched the floor absorb the spilled drink and the glass disappeared.

"How does this work?" She wondered in awe. "The Room of Requirement can't make food, it's not physically possible. How…?" She looked at Harry, who was still stuffing his face.

"I guess that the Founder's did something that allowed them to make real food. I can do it." Harry shrugged, putting the plate down. "It's really complicated, but so's most magic."

"I guess you're right…" Hermione mused. They spent the next few hours just talking. She looked a clock that appeared and saw that it was actually very late. A large door appeared. "Well now, I'm tired." She said.

When Harry followed her into the room, he saw two beds and her point was clear. _We can be together, but not like that… Not yet anyway._ With a thought, the two beds fused. Hermione glared at him.

"I'm not planning anything!" He said, putting his hands up. "I just want to sleep next to you. You're my wife, after all."

Hermione smiled and nodded her head. "Alright."

* * *

**Okay, it's not my favorite chapter but it covers the basics. **

**Next chapter, we have a bit of a skip. The troll appears as does the first real change to the storyline. *Hint* It wouldn't be called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. **

**Keep the reviews coming! **


	8. Trolls in the Dungeon

Over the next few weeks, Harry and Hermione continued to excel in all of their classes, even Potions. Harry and Hermione went out of their way to avoid Quirrell, knowing that he had Voldemort sticking out the back of his head, even though Harry's Occlumency shields were so strong that he didn't feel anything from his scar. They weren't sure what Voldemort was planning or how strong he was here, and they weren't taking any risks.

They explored the Founders' Chamber and the many secrets within. They no longer needed to use the portals, they could now Apparate there at will. They slept there, but found that they had a significant problem. Their beds in the Ravenclaw dormitory were empty. Together, Harry using his raw magic power and skill while Hermione dictated exactly what was necessary, they constructed a glamour that would cloak their presences, or lack thereof. It was even tangible, allowing the couple to dwell as they desired, together, in their secret Chamber.

* * *

Dumbledore had never been more confused. Harry and Hermione Potter were the strangest students he'd ever known, perfect students, yet incredibly suspicious. They did all of their work perfectly, often going far beyond what the assignments entailed. They never received detentions or lost house points.

And what was this about the Heirs? He'd known that Potter was of Griffindor's bloodline, but controlling the castle and governing punishments would require a True Heir, someone who was the Heir of all four Founders. He knew that Tom was the Heir of Slytherin, so there was no way that Harry was the Heir of all four Founders. Besides, the power should not transfer, even through marriage, and yet Hermione had been seen performing such deeds even while separated from Harry.

Both had skills far beyond any other student, of any year. They had Occlumency barriers that were even stronger than his own. The two were hiding something, and he needed to get some leverage over them, if he were to control the prophecy.

* * *

It was Halloween. Harry knew that, assuming events continued as they should, a troll would be released into the castle. Honestly, he had some doubts. Particularly because he knew for a fact that there had been no Gringotts break in, meaning that Voldemort was not after the Stone this time. However, judging from Quirrell's behavior, he was present. He wondered what Tom was after.

That night, as he had happened in the previous timeline, Quirrell had burst into the Great Hall, shouting about trolls in the dungeons. Then, he had pitched over forwards. Didn't the imbecile know that when you faint, you fall over backwards?

Then Harry realized something. Quirrell had said troll_s_, as in multiple. Harry wasn't sure where Quirrell was going, since Dumbledore had not made an announcement about the third-floor in this timeline. However, the trolls did represent a threat to the students and teachers. He gestured for Hermione to follow him as he made his way to the dungeons. Something was wrong with the timeline, but he needed to make sure that the school was safe.

* * *

Hermione placed a wall of force in the entrance to the dungeons, making sure that no idiotic student would try to interfere, then followed Harry. She found him facing a half-dozen trolls, destroying the dungeon. Harry pulled out his wand.

"_Lumos Maxima_!" He shouted. The massive flare of light not only blinded the trolls, it caught their attention as well. He pointed towards them "_Incindio_!" Instead of the normal jet of flame, a massive wave of fire poured out of the wand, racing towards the trolls. They screamed in agony as the wave of flame passed over them.

Hermione pointed her wand at them and began to direct smaller spells that she timed perfectly. A Stinging Hex to the ankle to trip a troll. An Impediment Jinx to the elbow to throw a swing off target. Her aim and strategy were perfect. Not a single blow was landed on herself or Harry.

Finding that these trolls were surprisingly resistant to magic, Harry shouted "_Arma Magestus_!" He shouted as his hand traced the path of the sword. He tensed, then leapt ten feet into the air. Using the Levitation Charm that Flitwick had been teaching, he pushed himself up further, then dove, driving the point of the sword into one of the trolls' foreheads.

He then used the blade to cut through the knee of one of the trolls, sending it falling to the ground. A Severing Charm to the eye from Hermione put it out of the fight for good. Then, another troll, which had appeared out of nowhere, struck at Hermione with its club. The last thing she saw was a wave of scales as she heard Harry's scream of rage.

* * *

In this state, Harry's mind was much more primal. Everything was a blur. All he knew was that one of these monsters had hurt his mate. He wanted blood, wanted to feel the sensation and hear the agony as he ripped limb from limb. These monsters would pay.

He bit at trolls, ripping off limbs with his fangs and claws. The poison that dripped from his teeth was as potent as Basilisk venom. Jets of flame appeared out of nowhere, slashing into the nearby trolls. As he looked at a spot for more than an instant, it burst into flames.

He met the eyes of one troll and watched as it fell backwards, lifeless, flames racing across its form. He beat his wings once, the resulting wave of superheated air partially melted the old stone of the castle dungeon as it washed over the trolls, who were shrieking in agony. At least one fell due to the wave of heat and the poison of his bite.

Everywhere he looked, flames were starting. With a flash, he found himself ripping off the leg of another troll, grabbing its skull and tearing it from the monster's shoulders. He slashed into the next troll with his tail, impaling its heart with the white-hot appendage.

Then, Harry looked around, searching for something else to kill. When he didn't detect anything, he let the transformation subside, falling to the ground. It was only through sheer force of will and the fact that he forced his magical energies into overdrive that he avoided passing out.

* * *

He looked for Hermione and saw a glowing light beneath one of the trolls. He grabbed the corpse and hurled it away, revealing a glowing bubble that shielded Hermione from the battle. He vaguely remembered casting a protective field around Hermione as he had shifted. He dispelled it and picked her up. He Apparated away, taking her to the Chamber.

Once he reached it, he created a room that would heal her as quickly as possible. He laid her gently inside, then stood outside, waiting for her to awaken. He poured as much of his power as he dared into the room, trying to heal her faster. He would go nowhere until his mate was well again.

* * *

Several hours later, Hermione finally awakened. She saw Harry sitting outside, energy pouring out of him, soaking into the walls of the Chamber. She smiled at him, tried to get up by rolling onto her side, then felt the pain again. She looked at her side and saw the bruises. She knew that if she wasn't numbed by something, she'd be screaming in pain.

"I take it you won?" She said. Harry nodded. "I'm fine. I just need some more time in the Chamber. As much as I enjoy having you watching over me while I am hurt, you need to go and find that useless old codger Dumbledore and tell him what happened." She said.

"I'm not going anywh-" Harry said. However, when she glared at him, the boy immediately flinched. He could fight a half-dozen trolls without a problem, but one look from this girl terrified him. "All right, all right." He surrendered. "I'll go find the old man." He Apparated away, returning to the dungeon, where he found Dumbledore examining the trolls with McGongagall and Flitwick. They turned to face him.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked. "How did you Apparate within the walls of Hogwarts?"

"Um… I'm here so that I can find you, the Lady forced me to leave her in the Chamber and come find you people. I can Apparate within the walls because I am the Heir."

"But ho-" Flitwick began.

"Maybe it would be better to continue this conversation in my office." Dumbledore said.

* * *

Harry groaned as Dumbledore asked him the same question a fourth time. "Yes, I can Apparate within the walls of Hogwarts."

"But how are you _the_ Heir?" he asked. "I know for a fact that you only have two Founders in your bloodline."

Harry laughed. "That would be telling."

Dumbledore began to ask the next question but sighed. "You're not going to answer anything are you?"

Harry smirked. "I already told you. I am the Heir to all four Founders, therefore I am the Heir of Hogwarts itself. Thus, I can ignore the wards. I fought off the trolls with the help of my wife, Hermione. She was wounded and is resting within the Founders' Chamber."

"What is the Founders' Chamber?" Flitwick asked.

"It is the hidden place of the four Founders, accessible only to the True Heir of Hogwarts. It has a way to heal the people within." Harry stated. "I will not say more, except that my wife and I are going to be residing within the chamber. I hope that you do not have a problem with that, Professor Flitwick?" Harry said, turning the last sentence into a question.

"If- If you are the true owners of that Chamber then… I have no problems with the two of you residing within there." He squeaked.

"I do!" Dumbledore interjected. "I refuse to allow students to reside in a location that I cannot access! I demand that you immediately show me how to access it."

Harry looked at him, annoyed. "I have the right to remain there. In fact, there is a rule in the Original Laws of Hogwarts that states quite clearly that the True Heirs may reside within the Chamber. I only asked the Professor because, as the head of my house, I will respect his opinion." He glared at Dumbledore. "I do not respect yours, sir. Particularly because you forged documents stating that you were my legal guardian." Harry laughed internally. _Let's see how you deal with the fallout from that little statement, you bastard._

McGonagall looked at him in shock. "Albus! How could you!?"

Dumbledore cowered beneath the angry glare of the enraged deputy headmistress. He mumbled something about the "Greater Good".

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "You and your "Greater Good" can rot for all I care." He turned to leave what looked like Ground Zero for the bomb known as McGonagall's temper. "I'll be in the Chamber. You can communicate with me either via the schoolwide broadcast system, or Fawkes." He paused. "I suppose you could call Mia as well… I'll introduce you later." With that statement he Apparated away, eager to check on his wife.

* * *

**He he. I'll reveal the truth of his Animagus form next time, as well as Quirrell/Voldemort's goal. I'll try to slow it down though. I'm getting a little ahead of myself...**

**Well, I'll post a couple of chapters soon. Keep on reviewing! **


	9. Dueling

Two days later, Hermione was able to get out of the healing chamber. The first thing she did was summon a huge amount of food and eat it all, then summon more. Constantly being within powerful healing magic can eliminate the need for normal sustenance. However, after one leaves the magic, their need for food and drink is multiplied, forcing them to eat the same amount of food as they would have before. She spent the next few hours eating, while Harry sat, trying to contain his laughter at seeing his wife stuff her face.

Afterwards, she watched Harry's memory of the rest of the battle and the days she'd missed. When she saw the part with his Animagus form, she demanded that he show it to her.

"Really?" Harry groaned. "Do you have to see it now?"

Her only response was a glare.

Harry shuddered. "Fine." A door appeared in the chamber. "Follow me."

When he opened the door, they were in a field. A grassy clearing amidst a field of trees. She couldn't see the walls and the doorway was the only indication that they were in a room.

"Don't freak out." Harry warned.

"Just get on with it." She stated coolly. She was annoyed because she hadn't been able to master an Animagus transformation.

Harry sighed. "Fine." He closed his eyes and heat began to roll off of him in waves. His body was covered in black scales as he grew larger. Hermione looked away. The transformation was not exactly pleasant to watch.

When she looked again, she saw a massive scaled beast. It was a lot like a dragon, except that it's shape reminded her of a snake, rather than a lizard. It had long arms and legs, with claws at the end. Its wings and tail were made of flame. It had the head of a basilisk at the end of a long neck. She looked away from it, fearing the sight of the basilisk. The grass around them was burnt away, incinerated by the presence of the creature.

"_It's all right._" Harry said to her mind. "_My gaze won't hurt you._"

As she looked, she saw a transparent film was covering the deadly eyes. She studied his form for several minutes.

"_Um… Hermione?_" Harry asked. "_Anything to say?_"

"I've never seen anything like this before. What kind of creature are you?" She asked, surprised.

"_I'm not quite sure._" Harry replied, shrugging. Hermione giggled. The motion looked very weird on a titanic, several ton, black-scaled beast.

"It's… beautiful..." She murmured, touching one of his scales. "You have this… aura. It's like… you radiate majesty."

Harry began the transformation back, taking only a second. "I'm not quite sure what to call it…" He explained sheepishly. "I've been looking for a description in all of the books I can find, but no luck."

She smiled. "Maybe you're something new. Maybe you combined some creatures to make your form." She paused. "Although, I've heard of someone with a hybrid Animagus transformation, but… Magical creature forms are one thing, but an amalgam of them?"

"I wasn't exactly in my right mind when I made it." He reminded her. "My fractured mind must have mixed up some of the creatures that I know, merging them."

Hermione thought for a second. "It looks like it's part phoenix, part basilisk. It also might have some dragon mixed in there… Why don't we call it a Phenolisk?"

Harry shrugged. "It's got a nice ring to it."

"So, what can you do with it?" She asked.

"You mean besides the sharp talons and fangs, the poison, and the deadly gaze?" He said with a chuckle. "I have pyrokinesis in that state, the wings are actually made of flame, not actual flesh. The tail is simply engulfed in fire. Of course, I have the ability to breathe fire as well. I have a phoenix's teleportation ability as well."

"I remember. You summoned flames and used them to attack… Your gaze attack was different from a basilisk's though." She said.

"Yeah. It seems to not only kill, but to set the blood on fire as well. If I just look somewhere for long enough, fires start there. The poison is also a bit faster…" He shrugged. "The teleportation is somewhat hampered by my size. I can't travel more than a few kilometers."

"So… Want to share?" She asked with a smirk.

"Share what?" He asked.

"Any tips on becoming an Animagus! I want to try to become one before the end of the year." Hermione stated.

Harry laughed. "You don't make things easy for yourself, do you? It takes years for most people."

"I'm not 'most people'." She said plainly.

"No. You're not." He agreed.

They spent the next few hours discussing the transformation process and how to begin it. Harry showed her how to begin the potions necessary to initiate the transformation.

* * *

Four days later, the two were sitting in the Chamber. They were both bored out of their minds. Hermione suggested the library, but then remembered that she'd read every book in there. Since Harry wasn't on a Quidditch team this time around, he had a lot more free time, and, as a first year, he wasn't allowed a broomstick.

"I have an idea." Harry said.

Hermione recoiled from him as if he was suddenly a monstrous beast. "Oh no!" The effect was spoiled when she burst out laughing.

"No, really." He said. "Why don't we start up a Dueling League?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well, one of the main problems with the Battle of Hogwarts was that the students had no idea how to use their spells in a proper fight. I figure that we could start up a league, maybe even make it an inter-house thing. We could talk to Flitwick about it." He paused. "Didn't he used to be a Dueling champion?"

Hermione nodded. "You know, that's not a bad idea." She smirked. "Plus, it'll give you a chance to show off." She teased.

Harry looked affronted. "Please. The only one I care about impressing is right here. Besides, it would give us a chance to beat up those idiots."

The two spent the next two days devising a set of rules for the League. When they approached Flitwick, he looked very interested. Once they'd assured him that there would be no lethal spells permitted, he promised to get the club set up by next week. Harry and Hermione bound their list of rules into a booklet and began passing them out, telling people to come talk to them if they were interested.

The rules basically stated that teams were anywhere from 2-10 people, from any house, although they might change that, depending on how popular the thing got. If the teams had different numbers of duelists, the smaller team could restrict the number of duelists per match.

Any spell was permitted, as long as it was not actually outlawed (like the Unforgivables) and the judge (they needed to pick a teacher) accepted it. Of course, wards would be put in place that would prevent any serious injuries. The teams could designate a type of battle, such as Stunners only, and could select locations.

* * *

At first, Harry and Hermione expected that only a few students would be interested and that they would have to wait until people told their friends. However, more than twenty students showed up that same day, eager. Flitwick told them that the idea had been accepted with great enthusiasm.

Harry and Hermione worked with Flitwick to devise the proper wards. Once they were complete, Harry asked Flitwick if he would be willing to duel the two of them, just as an exhibition match. Flitwick agreed, warning them that, while he had not dueled in a long time, he was still a dueling champion.

* * *

Over one hundred and twenty students sat in the Great Hall, eager to see the match. They had pushed the tables into the middle of the room and fused them together, creating a massive rectangular stage. Harry and Hermione stood on one side, while Flitwick stood on the other. The Weasley twins had offered to provide commentary and Harry had agreed, knowing the hilarity that would ensue.

"On the right side, the two First Year Ravenclaw students, Harry and Hermione Potter! We've seen them do some pretty strange things here, including shutting down Professor Snape's unfai- I mean EXTREMELY generous punishments!" Boomed Fred's voice, enhanced with the Sonorous Charm. Laughter erupted from the students, while the Slytherins looked uncomfortable.

"And on the left, Professor Filius Flitwick! The head of Ravenclaw House. He's won a lot of dueling tournaments in his day. I guess there's a lot of power packed into that tiny frame!" George said, ducking to avoid a jet of light from Flitwick's wand.

"Duelists ready?" The twins asked together. They'd been told what to say by Harry and warned not to mess it up. All three duelists nodded. Harry put massive locks on his own power, reducing his level of power to only one percent. He and Hermione had agreed not to use anything stronger than a stunner, at least not in the exhibition match.

"Begin!"

Harry threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding a Stunner cast by Flitwick. He fired off an Impediment Jinx, which the short professor warded off with a quick Shield Charm. Hermione, meanwhile, had Disillusioned herself, sneaking away.

Harry did his best to distract Flitwick, surprised by his level of skill. Flitwick wouldn't be a match for him if he was serious, but the professor hadn't been this good in the Battle of Hogwarts…

"And Flitwick blocks another volley of shots by the surprisingly strong Potter! I wonder where the girl went… Ouch, that one would've hurt. Lucky block there." George chuckled

Flitwick's size, skills, and experience in dueling allowed him to avoid or block each of Harry's spells. Meanwhile, Flitwick's spells were packed with power, forcing Harry to block each one. He had to remind himself that they were in a non-lethal duel.

"Looks like this duel is going to take a while… Both duelists are throwing spells at one another. Hermione is still gone… Anyone want to check the toilets?" Fred chuckled.

Hermione sent a message to him, via their mental link. She was ready, and needed a distraction. He fired off a dozen jets of light, distracting Flitwick as he blocked each spell. As he did, Hermione uncloaked herself and pointed her wand at the professor's back. A stunner to the back knocked out the short duelist. With a muttered "_Enervate_!", She'd woken him up. The three duelists bowed.

"And there you have it! An amazing use of teamwork to fell a stronger foe! " Fred shouted.

"Anyone interested in dueling should come talk to either the Potters or Professor Flitwick! Make sure that you have a team together." George continued.

"A schedule will be posted as soon as we have enough!" They finished together.

Half of the students left the Great Hall talking about the duel, while the rest grouped up and got in lines to register. Harry and Hermione looked at each other with a smile. Hogwarts was one step closer to being able to defend itself.

* * *

**I'm not quite sure what's going to happen with the Dueling League yet. Any suggestions? Also, what should Hermione's Animagus form be?**

**Also, so that everyone knows, Hermione's magical strength is the same as it should be. It's only her skill that's different. Harry carried over his entire essence to this timeline, while Hermione only brought her mind. **

**For everyone who thinks that their relationship is progressing too fast, remember that they have lived together for over a century. The only differences are the bodies. I'm also considering allowing the younger Hermione to resurface... **

**We're going to find out what Quirrell's after next time. **

**Keep on reviewing, I'll keep writing.**


	10. Rock and Rage

The next day, a small package arrived at the school. This package did not arrive in any of the normal ways. There was no owl or phoenix involved. No Portkeys or the like. A dark green rip appeared in the air above a certain teacher's desk. It expanded into a circle filled with darkness and a small grey stone fell out of it. The stone was encircled by a small green snake, which immediately uncoiled and slithered away, seeking somewhere dark and damp.

Quirrell walked into the office, having detected the package. He picked up the small stone and suddenly, all of the color drained out of his face. The stone dropped from shaking fingers. He tried to walk away, but a mysterious force forced his arm back down. His fingers wrapped around the stone, while his face mutated in agony. He barely managed to cast a Silencing spell before he started screaming. About an hour later, his throat was incredibly raw from the constant screaming. His fingers had been petrified, and it was spreading up his arm. He managed to drop the stone, watching as the agony slowly faded and he began to regain feeling in his arm.

His master was pleased. The vessel had lasted much longer than he'd anticipated. The conditioning would be quick. It would not be long before he could begin searching for the Well…

* * *

Harry looked carefully at Quirrell, who was sitting at the Head Table. The man was totally drained of color and looked sick. Was he fighting Voldemort? Was Tom weaker this time around? He'd been studying the man long after he'd finished the meal. Most of the students had already left.

He looked over at Hermione and smiled. She smiled back, knowing that in a few days, they would be back in Diagon Alley for the Christmas break. She would enjoy their first few weeks that were totally devoid of rules. Then, something that made her even happier. A owl flew by and dropped a letter in front of her. She opened it, wondering who was writing to her, then froze in shock.

"M- my parents." She realized. "The- They're alive!" She looked at Harry with shock on her face. "How could I not remember?!"

He remembered that she'd been without them for a hundred years. They'd died in the very first attack of Europe. "You've been trying to suppress memories of them for over a hundred years." He said calmly. He looked at her. "But really? How could a Ravenclaw be such a dunderhead?" He teased.

She hit him on the arm playfully, but couldn't get the grin off of her face. Malfoy walked over, looking angry. "What're you so happy about? Did Potter give you a Knut or something, Mudblood whore?"

The result of that comment was explosive. Harry turned and drove his wand towards Malfoy, hurling him across the room. The Sword of Griffindor manifested as Harry stalked towards the fallen boy. Anger flared in his eyes and his aura flaming into existence. He cast off two of the students who tried to hold him back, accidentally nicking one with the blade, who screamed as the wound caught fire. Snape tried to get in his way, but with one strike Harry destroyed the foolish professor's wand, slicing it cleanly in half. Harry gestured and Snape was thrown away, hit a wall which knocked him out.

Hermione was only glaring at Malfoy with hatred and tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe that Malfoy could still find a way to ruin this day. When Dumbledore appeared in front of Harry, she raised her wand to hex him. It was only the swift intervention of McGonagall, who moved quicker than Hermione would have thought possible, that Dumbledore was saved. With a gesture and a flash of red light, Hermione was unconscious.

Dumbledore raised his wand, a jet of red light streaking towards Harry. He caught the spell on the mirrored blade, knocking it aside. Dumbledore gestured and a wall of force appeared in front of Harry. A single strike of the sword banished the spell. It was only through the quick thinking of Flitwick that Harry didn't kill the Headmaster.

"HARRY! STOP!" Hermione's voice shouted. Flitwick had used a charm that mimicked her voice.

Harry froze, then looked around, coming to his senses. "What the hell just- Last thing I remember, Malfoy was insulting Hermione…" He looked at the sword in his hand. "Oh."

"Care to explain your actions, Potter?" Asked Dumbledore, who was trying to regain control of the situation. The attempt was spoiled by the fact that he was shaking in terror.

"Um… He insulted my soulmate. Sir, you'll find that, I am well within my rights to defend the honor of my wife." Harry said, quickly regaining his normal composure.

"Even if that were true," Dumbledore began. "You still-"

"_Were_?" Harry demanded. "I think that you are thinking of normal marriages, in which people are capable of ignoring insults. The binding of _soulmates_ is infinitely stronger, as well as magically binding. Any perceived attack on her is an attack on me. I could have anyone getting in my way tried for obstruction of justice. Sir. "

"Still, don't you think that your actions are a bit harsh? They're only words." Dumbledore said, attempting to use this event to incur guilt in the Boy-Who-Lived. "Besides, you must learn to forgive people-"

Harry glared at him. "No. I won't offer forgiveness to someone who doesn't deserve it. I've left Malfoy alone for far too long. Snape as well. Besides, I think you're being a bit too lenient towards a Death Eater and a junior Death Eater." He paused for his words to sink in. "You make sure that, when they awaken, they both know that Hermione Potter is off limits." He turned and walked over to his wife, leaving the dumbstruck Headmaster behind.

He woke her up and Apparated them both away, then returned a moment later to pick up the letter that she'd dropped.

* * *

Apparently, Hermione's parents, despite being very angry about her not writing to them, were still taking her skiing. Hermione immediately wrote a note begging them to let her "new" best friend come with them. She made sure that they knew that he would pay for everything. Then, she called Mia and with a flash of multicolored flame, the phoenix was gone. She would return in an hour with an emphatic yes. There was a side note from her mother asking if the boy friend was her _boyfriend_, to which Hermione laughed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Harry went to talk to Flitwick about the Dueling League. When he did, he found that a total of forty four teams had registered, a total of one hundred and sixty eight students. He was surprised at the sheer number. He went off to find Hermione, so that the three of them could set up the schedule.

Once he found her and they got back to Flitwick, they found out that Neville Longbottom had managed to get the rest of his dormmates to join his team and had issued a challenge for Harry. Laughing, Harry told Flitwick to put them first, with no restrictions. This would be amusing.

* * *

With a jet of red light, Dean Thomas was on the ground. His stunned body glowed blue, then vanished, reappearing on the floor off of the grassy stage. Flitwick had used several charms to replicate the environment of the Forbidden Forest, with actual trees. The spectators had a complete view of the ring, courtesy of the same enchantments that blocked them from stray spells.

Hermione used a Severing Charm to split a tree, causing Seamus Finnegan to shriek in fear, running to another while hurling minor hexes in all directions. Harry laughed when a spell hit Ron, making him shout in annoyance. However, the half-heartedly cast Stinging Hex hadn't done much to the annoying boy, besides revealing his location. Harry pegged Finnegan with another Stunner to the chest as the boy ran. Once the unconscious boy hit the ground, he disappeared, reappearing next to Dean.

Hermione pointed at the tree where Ron was hiding with her wand, a fireball exploding out and setting it ablaze. Ron shrieked and ran out from it. He tried to hide beneath the stump that Hermione had made earlier, but Harry caught him with a jinx that immobilized him mid run. He winked at Hermione, who sent a jet of red light at him. Visually, the spell was identical to a Stunner. However, what the spell actually did was create a feeling of total numbness, as if the struck body part had "fallen asleep". She made sure to nail every one of Ron's limbs before Stunning him. The spells that she'd cast would last for a full week and not even Madam Pomfrey would be able to remove them.

Neville was the only one left. Remembering how the brat had been bragging about how he was going to upstage the two Heirs, Harry decided to make up a spell that would make Neville's day decidedly more… unpleasant. He ran through the arithmetic equations twice, then nodded. This spell would be pure torture for the boy, utterly destroying his self confidence.

After a mental message from Harry, Hermione began to fire off jets of white light. They were similar to the simple Lumos spell, except that they would wrap the target with light that drew hexes. Neville had been leaning out to see where they were and was hit in the chest.

Harry snuck his way closer, bouncing from tree to tree. Finally, he was only ten feet away. He took two steps and pressed his wand to the boy's back.

"You lose." He stated calmly. Then, Neville was unconscious. The fact that the spell had been point blank hid the fact that this "Stunner" was blue.

"And the first match ends with a spectacular win for the Heirs!" Shouted Fred Weasley. The twins had wanted to announce this particular match. "So much for 'Dumbledore's Apprentice's unbeatable skills'!"

"No kidding!" Laughed George. "Looks like these first year Griffindor boys are pretty inadequate." He looked at the spectators. "So sorry to those first year Griffindor girls!" The comment was met with applause. Even Flitwick had to stifle a chuckle.

Neville, who had been 'enervated', glared at the twins. "Why I-" before he could finish his thought, his face blanched and he rushed out of the Great Hall. Ron tried to follow but found that he was unable to get up. The two Heirs laughed uproariously as Flitwick levitated the red-haired boy and took him to the Hospital Wing, after congratulating the two Potters.

Hermione ran to Harry and hugged him. "What did you do to Neville?" she whispered in his ear.

"Oh… Nothing much. Just a little Bowel-Loosening Hex. I mixed a Stunner in there as well." He muttered back.

She pulled back, glaring at him, before bursting into laughter. "That's hilarious!"

"That's not even the best part." Harry said quietly. "It'll trigger every fifteen minutes, or when he tries to think… Which, now that I consider it, isn't that often." He chuckled. "It'll last about two weeks or so."

Hermione looked at him. "That's the whole vacation!"

"I know."

The two laughed as they headed into the cheering crowd.

* * *

**Well, a little bit of bashing for all. Oh, and Draco's house just got raided and some Dark artifacts were found, hence his bad mood and resulting pummeling. **

**I know it seems like a bit of a stretch, having her forget about her parents, but remember, she has been trying to forget about them for a hundred years.**

**Next time, Harry and Hermione go skiing and find something strange. Tom's gonna be pissed.**

**I want to know which people want more. Longer chapters, or quicker updates?**

**Keep the reviews coming! **


	11. Dumbledore's Sentence

Harry was furious. He walked into towards the Headmaster's office, the gargoyle moving aside long before he got there. It had sensed his rage and moved, knowing that he wouldn't have waited to ask. Harry marched up the stairs, magic trailing behind him. There were flames marking his footsteps now, and the air trembled.

"How. Dare. You." Harry spat at the startled Headmaster.

"Harry, I don't-" Dumbledore said, trying to calm him.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!!!" Harry shouted. Magic washed over the room, turning his demand into truth. Harry tossed a parchment with a note on it, written in a loopy hand. Dumbledore, of course, recognized it instantly. He'd given it to Flitwick for the boy that morning.

"It is for your own safety that you remain in the school. You cannot be allowed to gallivant around with a couple of Muggles and an underage witch, no matter her relationship with you." Dumbledore said, trying to resist the terror that threatened to overwhelm him. "You will not be permitted to leave the school until you agree to an adoption by a proper Wizarding family. Perhaps the Weasleys? You seem to like the twins."

Harry laughed bitterly. "I don't mind most of them." He said truthfully. Honestly, he would enjoy staying with the Weasleys, as long as he steered clear of Ron. But this old bastard was trying to cut into his vacation with Hermione and strip his rights. "But I will not give up my rights and I will not permit you to restrain me here. I am Lord of House Potter. As such I have certain rights, including the ability to use underage magic." He glared at Dumbledore. "Obviously, you want me to stop learning magic that you do not teach. The Weasleys would gladly obey the order that I be restricted from purchasing unapproved books."

"Really, Harry. I must insist. You must begin to listen to me. I am older, wiser, and I know what is best." He raised his wand and gestured at Harry, muttering a few words. "There. You are now bound to the Hogwarts campus. I will remove the binding when I take you to get your adoption papers."

Harry ripped the binding apart with his mind. He pointed at Dumbledore with his wand. The professor began to choke. "You have no wisdom, old man. You are an utter fool. You will never cast a spell on me again, without my express permission. I will be leaving Hogwarts and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Try to challenge me and you will regret it."

Harry turned and strode out, leaving the Headmaster behind. The choking stopped once Harry got past the gargoyles. Dumbledore massaged his throat.

"For the 'Greater Good', he must be taught a lesson. He cannot be permitted to use threats." Dumbledore said. He seemed to be ignoring the fact that he'd just broken a few dozen laws by placing a binding on the young man.

Aurors showed up later that day and took Harry Potter into custody. He was under arrest for assaulting the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

* * *

Harry was chained to the prisoner's chair in an interrogation room of the Ministry. He was on trial. Amelia Bones, Head of Magical Law Enforcement was acting as the judge.

"Harry James Potter, you have been brought here due to accusations that you attacked the Headmaster of Hogwarts multiple times, as well as injuring several students and another professor. Your emancipation has been nullified. Do you have anything to say before we pronounce you guilty?"

"So. Guilty until proven innocent?" Harry asked. "Very well. Has the prosecution stated the circumstances of the attacks?" Amelia shook her head. "The first time that I 'attacked' the Headmaster was after a boy insulted my soulmate. The laws are quite clear that I have the right to defend my mate in whatever manner I see fit."

"But don't you agree that your actions were far too-" Dumbledore asked from the prosecution bench.

"Shut up." Harry said curtly. "As I was saying, the students, other teacher, and Professor Dumbledore were actually guilty of obstructing justice. He attempted to attack me when I was moving to exact punishment on the brat." He glared at Dumbledore. "I have broken no laws with that action. In fact, I would like to add the Headmaster's conduct to the list today." _Turnaround's a bitch, isn't it, you old fart?_

"And the other occasion?" Amelia asked, glaring at Dumbledore.

"The Headmaster attempted to imprison me within the school. When I refused, he placed a severe binding around me, stating that it would only be broken when I agreed to give up my emancipation and be adopted by a family of his choosing. I removed the binding and acted to defend myself." He looked at Amelia. "Isn't casting such binding on an unwilling, non-criminal target quite illegal?"

"Indeed it is." Amelia said, now quite furious with Dumbledore, who was denying the entire matter.

"Mr. Potter is delusional. I have a half-dozen portraits who will all agree that Mr. Potter's attacks in my office were completely unfounded."

Harry laughed. "I propose that I show you all. I know that a Pensieve is not an acceptable form of evidence, but if I can be released, I will show you all what happened." The chains released him.

He walked over to Amelia, who handed him his wand. He walked over to Dumbledore. "I would like permission to access your memories of the event."

Dumbledore looked uneasy. "You said it yourself, Pensieve memories are not accepted as evidence."

"I'm not going to extract them." Harry said. "I just need the connection of two people who were present."

Dumbledore was about to refuse again when Amelia said "You may do so, Mr. Potter, so long as it does not harm the professor."

Harry nodded and touched the wand to Dumbledore's forehead. He brought it to his own next, then pointed at each of the room's corners. With a silent Temporal Spell, he brought everyone in the room into the memory.

As she watched the events unfold, Amelia looked uneasy. "Mr. Potter, what the hell is going on?"

"Simple really. I've activated a spell that will bring us into the memory. It is similar to a Pensieve, except that it uses two memories." He glared at Dumbledore. "Unless the two people are collaborating in creating a false memory, the spell will fail. Since we are on opposite sides, it wouldn't make any sense." He looked at Amelia. "Is that acceptable evidence? You can check the truth of my words later. I'll write the Arithmantic equation out for you."

Once she'd seen the memory, she pronounced Harry innocent of all charges and began to list Dumbledore's offenses. The list included Obstruction of Justice, False Testimony, and Illegal Usage of Magic, among other things. Harry watched with disappointment as Dumbledore used his influence, reputation, and what Harry strongly suspected were Compulsion Charms, to worm his way out of most of the charges. However, Harry watched with glee as Dumbledore was sentenced to ten days in Azkaban, with probation afterwards. He strongly suspected that Dumbles had reduced the sentence, but he didn't really care. He was just trying to make sure that the old man got the point. Don't mess with Potter.

Once Harry left the room, he Apparated through the Ministry wards and into the Chamber. He and Hermione laughed at Dumbledore's predicament. He'd be gone for the whole break. Two days later, they left for Christmas break.

* * *

Harry fired off another Tickling Hex at Hermione, causing her to burst out in laughter. If it weren't for the paralysis charm that he'd cast on her legs, she probably would have fallen off of her skis. He had, after several hilarious attempts to ski, given up conventional skiing. He'd enchanted his skis with Levitation, stability, and balancing charms. Then, while Hermione had been laughing, he nailed her skis with similar enchantments, with the addition of a Slowing charm. She'd dispelled it, then retaliated with a Tickling Hex. Then, they had begun a playful war of extremely minor hexes. That had been three hours earlier.

Unfortunately, while she was laughing, she accidentally swerved, falling off of a cliff. Harry didn't have time to think, only to act. He leapt towards her, changing shape as he did. The black Phenolisk trailed flame as it caught the falling girl.

_Are you okay? _Harry asked her.

"Fine, thanks." She eyed his form. "You know, I think that-" She trailed off as she looked at the cliff face.

Harry followed her gaze and saw a cave in the top of the rock wall. The flame must have melted away the ice covering the entrance. It was only a two or three meters wide, definitely too small for the Animagus state. With a thought, Harry shifted back, still holding Hermione tightly. Then, mid-freefall, he Apparated them both into the cave entrance.

They both muttered "_Lumos_!" as they entered. Hermione's wand gave off a much fainter light than they would have expected. The rune on Harry's wand blazed into brilliance, tripling the effect of the spell.

"Geez, Harry." Hermione muttered, rubbing her eyes. "Was there really a need to blind me?"

"I don't know what's happening." He said truthfully. Since they had a mental link, lying was useless.

"Remind me where you heard of that weird metal orb and why you felt the need to retrieve and use it?" She asked.

"Um…" Harry had to think hard. "I'm not sure." He used a Temporal memory spell on the wand's metal. The spell would show him the exact moment in time that he first learned of it. "This can't be right." His eyes widened.

"What?" She asked.

"It says that I learned about the metal… mid-transition." He said, shocked.

"You mean… In transition from future to past?"

"Yeah…" He muttered. "Weird."

"We'll have to look into that…" She looked excited at the thought of research. "But for now, let's explore."

"Fine," he muttered, setting aside the mystery.

* * *

The small cave was mostly empty. However, it was surprisingly clean, being utterly devoid of any of the usual signs of a mysterious, ancient cave (cobwebs, massive stalagmites and stalactites, etc.). A tingling sensation passed over them every so often. It was a detection spell. They felt magic radiating from all directions. Deeper inside, far deeper than the mountain's size should allow, they saw a blue light.

They finally reached the end, coming to a massive circular chamber. The light was radiating from an object in the middle of the room. As they moved closer to it, the light began to pulse. The closer Harry got, the faster the pulses got. The tingling was now constant. In the back of the chamber, they could see an engraving of a giant.

However, in the middle of the chamber was a heptagonal object. It was about half a meter tall. Coming out of the center was an incredibly ornate cylinder. It was ten inches tall and about twenty-five wide. Blue light poured out of it, motes of it were cast in all directions.

The two examined the object, finding a small hole, just large enough to insert a wand into, and a small rectangular hole beneath it. Harry could feel his wand pulsing in time with the object and, on an impulse, pushed it into the hole. There was a musical tone.

The light faded as the wand glowed bright blue. In the rectangular hole, a rune was glowing. Metal similar to that of the wand appeared in the opening. A moment later, the wand was ejected back into Harry's hand. A small metal box with a pulsing blue rune was still in the hole. Hermione tried to extract it, but found that it was immovable. Harry, again acting on instinct, tapped it with the wand. It fell out and he caught it. It radiated a calm, warm light. They were teleported to the bottom of the rock face as the cave collapsed.

"Can I see that box?" Hermione asked. Harry handed it over, but the moment it left his hand, it disappeared. When he opened his hand again, it was suddenly in his grasp.

"Weird." Hermione muttered, annoyed.

"I'll say." Harry agreed.

* * *

The two made their way to the muggle town at the base of the mountain, to purchase replacement skis. When they reached the muggle area, the box began to pulse again. Harry pulled it out of his pocket as it morphed into a wristwatch, instantly securing itself onto his wrist. The rune pulsed on the face, before it became a normal watch, although it had a blue color and an extremely interesting design, reminiscent of the rune.

"Camouflage?" Hermione suggested, impressed.

"What the hell is this thing?" Harry muttered, trying to pull it off with no success.

* * *

**Okay, wasn't really planning on it at first, but I think that Dumbledore is going to start thinking that he's going to have to kill Harry for the 'Greater Good'. It won't happen for a while, but... Any opinions? Should he go all bad 'for the Greater Good'?**

**Oh, and in response to several reviews, the reason that Harry and Hermione have so much hatred for Neville, Ron, Malfoy, and Snape is because of both what they'd done in the other timeline and this one. I haven't really been displaying it much, but I'll work on it more. It's kind of like how we aren't shown all of the times that Malfoy is an asshole to Harry. We just know that he's an idiot without needing constant reminders. The two Potters aren't just bullies beating up on people for what they're _going_ to do. They have reason to beat them up, just like Harry and his friends have reasons to beat up Malfoy.**

**Back to Hogwarts. Dumbles is not happy, and Snape has something very nasty planned. Quirrellmort is getting closer and closer to his goal. **

**From what the current responses have been, I'll keep to the current structure. If people change their minds and decide that they want longer chapters, but longer times in between updates, let me know.**

**Keep the reviews coming. I like compliments and ****suggestions.**


	12. Failed Vengeance

Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the break either skiing together, having snowball fights (usually magic enhanced), or studying the watch. Even with their books from the future, the two still had no ideas about the weird rune-like symbol. It didn't help that Hermione was depressed because of her parent's rage over the fact that she was already married.

Under constant prodding from Harry, she had told her parents about their soulmate status. She had dosed her parent's coffees with enough calming potion to knock out an elephant beforehand, but her parents had still blown up at them. She'd been left in tears and her parents had stormed out, actually renting a new room on a different floor of the hotel. Harry had found the hotel manager and discretely paid him for everything, hoping to smooth things over.

The atmosphere was so tense that the two Potters couldn't wait for the break to be over. They were very happy when they arrived at Platform 9¾ to ride the Hogwarts Express.

* * *

The two found their own compartment and settled there. It wasn't long after they set off when the door slid open, seemingly for no reason. Harry's Temporal magic gave him an instant of foresight. He held out the arm with the watch, not quite sure why. Then, an orange jet of light smashed into an invisible barrier that the watch projected. Fire splashed across the shield and were sucked into it.

Hermione quickly cast a spell that would render invisible things visible. Nothing happened. Harry had a sneaking suspicion of what was happening. Unfortunately, before he could act on it, Ron Weasley burst through the door and fired off an Stunner at Hermione. She managed to block it and fire off a Stinging Hex. The hex was deflected as a shield appeared. Weasley shouted "_Stupefy_!", but Hermione blocked it. She was in the middle of saying "_Impedimenta_" when a voice that Harry recognized whispered "_Diffindo_". A jet of light flew towards the back of Hermione's neck. Harry hurled himself in front of the light and his watch absorbed it.

If his magic wasn't enhancing his senses, he would never have heard the voice of Neville Longbottom His suspicions confirmed, Harry waved his wand, creating a gust of air that exploded towards where the voice had come from. Harry saw Neville appear as he was thrown into one of the walls. A silvery cloak fell to the floor. Harry pressed his wand to the fallen boy's wand and with a huge magical effort, vanished the core. The wand was rendered useless. Harry pointed his wand at Neville as Hermione disarmed Ron and stunned him.

"How dare you get Dumbledore arrested!" Neville shouted at him, ignoring the wand. "You must've used the Imperius curse on the judge! Dumbledore's the best Light wizard ever! He would never do anything bad! He was going to teach me how to use the Bone-Breaking Curse over the break!"

"Oh you poor boy." Hermione said, her voice sickly sweet. "Here, I'll show you." She pointed at Neville's knee. There was a horrifying "SNAP" as the boy's leg was suddenly pointed backwards. She silenced the compartment as he screamed in agony. "Want to see it again?" She asked, her fury now showing through. "Don't you dare try anything like this again." She spat, despite knowing that it was futile.

Harry walked over to the Invisibility Cloak and picked it up. He still had the one from his other timeline in the equipment compartment of his trunk, but he didn't think that it was a good idea to have multiples floating around. He put it into his trunk.

"HEY!" Neville shrieked, forgetting about his pain for a moment. "DUMBLEDORE GAVE ME THAT! HE SAID THAT YOU DIDN'T DESERVE IT! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT WAS YOUR PARENT'S! DUMBLEDORE SAID THAT I SHOULD HAVE IT!"

Harry was furious. His aura manifested slightly. _THAT OLD BASTARD!!! HE DARED TO GIVE MY DAD'S CLOAK TO THIS LITTLE-! _Before his anger got the better of him, Hermione stepped on Neville's broken knee, making him revert to mindless screaming. Then, she walked over to Harry and gave him a hug.

"It doesn't matter. We'll get that bastard back for this." She whispered. She pointed at Weasley. "_Enervate_." As Ron came to his senses, she barked at him. "Take him back to whatever rock you idiots crawled out from under."

Seeing Neville's broken knee and the blazing aura around Harry, Ron made the first wise decision of his short life and obeyed. Once they got out, Hermione sealed the compartment. If Malfoy came by to annoy them, Harry would probably end up killing him. It wouldn't do… yet.

* * *

Dumbledore was not happy. When they'd gotten to the castle, Harry and Hermione Apparated directly to the Chamber, not even bothering to go to the feast. The Longbottom boy had been sent directly to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey had never seen such a severe break. He'd wanted to find Harry and convince him of his good intentions.

He had made false Pensieve memories, to make sure that Harry never knew, because his stay in Azkaban had been far easier than anyone would have anticipated, since pretty much treated as a guest of the guards, rather than a prisoner. He had even been allowed to request that books be retrieved from his personal library. The Dementors had been kept far away from his cell as well.

After leafing through Longbottom's memories like the pages of a book, he knew that meeting with Harry would not be a good idea. Neville had practically quoted the note that he'd attached to the Cloak. Harry would be furious. He cast a numbing spell on the boy then stormed out of the Hospital Wing. He had to make a new plan to control the prophecy.

* * *

Quirrell shrieked in his chambers. Agony ripped through his body as he clutched the black stone. He was not permitted to drop the stone until his fingers were no longer capable of holding it. His master was furious because he had been unable to condition the body during the break.

With Dumbledore gone, it should have made it easier. However, McGonagall had taken over with a zealous fervor and had paid a lot of attention to everything that had happened in the castle. She'd even monitored the teachers.

He would enjoy torturing the bitch once he had the opportunity. Even as the pleasant thought passed through his mind, his other hand reached down and picked up the stone again, causing him to scream as the torture began anew. His master was quite impatient.

* * *

Snape was getting to be a serious problem. It looked to Harry that this Severus Snape had absolutely no good in him. Since Harry had gotten away with destroying the man's wand, he'd begun to start his own personal war against all three other houses. He was winning.

Slytherins had been receiving points for utterly absurd reasons. There had been one occasion where a Griffindor had answered a question correctly, only to see Snape give four Slytherin students points for thinking about it. Slytherin students received one hundred points for each potion, no matter how wrong. A slightly imperfect potion turned into fifty points from your House and a detention.

Apparently, he had also begun offering points for anyone who successfully attacked members from other houses. There had been twenty in the first week back. Fifty-two students had been in the Hospital Wing for at least a day. Slytherin's point counter seemed to be skyrocketing while the Griffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff houses were in the negative.

Harry and Hermione negated as many of the attempts as they could, but not even they could be everywhere and Dumbledore had authorized him to make whatever punishments he saw fit. With the current rules, only the direct presence of an Heir could negate his punishments now.

The other teachers tried to do offset his changes, but they simply weren't capable of playing dirty. At least, not at Snape's level. Dumbledore had ignored the other teachers' pleas that he do something about Snape, saying that he trusted the "former" Death Eater. Things at the school were getting desperate.

* * *

Harry and Hermione left the Transfiguration classroom and headed towards the Great Hall. As they rounded a corner in one of the corridors, there was the sound of a glass shattering and they were engulfed in magical darkness. A dozen jets of light shot towards them from the shadows. Harry's watch absorbed the attacks.

With a wave of her wand, Hermione conjured a flare of light, but it was consumed by the darkness. As the darkness absorbed the light, began to feel despair, similar to the effects of a Dementor. Harry fired off his Patronus, which was now a Phenolisk. The darkness seemed to recoil as the silver creature ripped through it. Once the shadows were gone, the two saw a host of Slytherin students. It looked like a third of Slytherin House was about to attack them both.

Harry's wand began to glow as he gathered the strength for a devastating spell, then he let it fade, realizing that he was only fighting students. However, when a beam of shadow flew towards him and the watch absorbed it, it suddenly blazed with light. The symbol appeared in front of Harry, big enough to completely overshadow him. The castle itself seemed to shudder as every spell that the rune had absorbed was transformed into a wave of pure magical destruction that obliterated the Slytherin line. Not a single student had any significant damage. However, if one were to examine their current magical strength, they would find that their magical cores were totally drained. It would take a week before they could cast anything more than simple spells.

Harry and Hermione stared at the watch in awe. They resolved to redouble their efforts to determine what the hell the thing that had stuck itself on Harry's wrist was.

* * *

**Not much to say here...**

**Next time, Quirrell's conditioning will be complete and he will begin his quest. **

**Still haven't decided on what's happening with Dumbles... Good or Evil?**

**It's almost time for the Harry/Hermione vs. Quirrelmort confrontation...**

**Keep on reviewing!**


	13. Death Eater

It was just past midnight. Severus Snape was in his office, examining his collection of potions. As he put one away, he felt a sudden pain in his left arm. He pulled aside his sleeve to reveal his Dark Mark. It was glowing blood-red. He touched it, nodded twice, then pulled his sleeve over the dimming mark. His eyes turned completely black. He pulled out his wand and gestured at a wall. It rumbled as it split apart, revealing an assortment of illegal artifacts and a set of dark robes on the back wall. He walked over and pulled on the robes. As he pulled them off of the hook, a silver mask was revealed. He pulled it on. He touched an artifact just next to him and it glowed. He pocketed the artifact, which allowed him to penetrate the wards for a single hour, and Disapparated.

* * *

At breakfast the next morning, there were cries of panic when the Daily Prophet arrived. The headline of the front page said: "DEATH EATER ATTACK IN DIAGON ALLEY! LONE DEATH EATER ATTACKS GRINGOTTS AND DESTROYS APOTHECARY! FOURTEEN WIZARDS KILLED!" Skimming through the article, Harry saw that there had been twenty-two goblin casualties and six were missing. The dead goblins had been ripped apart and most of their internals had been removed. He'd known that most wizards didn't care about the other species' lives, but he was still surprised that it was only mentioned once, at the end of the article.

Why would the Death Eaters attack randomly? Where they just out for kicks? Some old follower of Tom who decided to put on his old robes and go on a killing spree? Why would they kidnap goblins? Why now?

Harry glared at Quirrell, whose face was utterly pale. It was like all of the color had been sucked from his body. The man's magical energy was depleted, hence the lack of demonstrations. He wasn't sure what was happening. Had Quirrell been the Death Eater last night? No, that was impossible. Hermione had laid tracer wards that would detect Quirrell leaving the castle, no matter how he left. So it had been someone else…

He was cut out of his musings when Flitwick tapped him on the shoulder. He had a suggestion on how to raise the spirits of the students. After hearing his explanation, Harry decided that it was a great idea. After he and Hermione finished their meals, they headed up to Flitwick's office.

* * *

Upon entering the Great Hall for dinner that night, the students saw a massive tournament schedule. Every single team that had registered for the Dueling League was signed up for it. The golden tournament tree was actually fused to the wall, a miracle of charms work. However, the teams were listed on the side. They would be assigned their matches when the tournament began.

"As you can see," Flitwick squeaked, using the magical microphone from the Quidditch Pitch to make his voice heard. "We have decided to host a tournament for all of the students that have signed up for the League. Participants will be exempt from classes and homework until the tournament is completed. We will accept any new teams that wish to participate." He gestured to Harry and Hermione, who were standing nearby. "The Potters have donated 300 Galleons to the school for the tournament's prize. The first place team will receive 150, the second will receive 100 and the third place team will get 50. It begins tomorrow after breakfast. Teams must have registered before then." There was a round of applause at that thought, with most of the remaining students scrambling to form teams and register.

Harry and Hermione smiled at the sheer number of participants. It had been surprisingly easy to get approval for the tournament. Dumbledore had accepted Flitwick's request, despite Harry's refusal to meet with him. All of the teachers had been happy to exempt students from classes and homework. Even Snape hadn't needed any convincing. Harry wondered if he was sick.

* * *

That night, Hermione added the final ingredient to her Animagus potions. Soon, she would finally learn about her Animagus form. She couldn't bring herself to feel much joy, however. She and Harry were very worried about the Death Eater attack. It made no sense. Why would a Death Eater who had obviously been in hiding go thrill-seeking by committing random crimes in Diagon Alley. Most of the Death Eaters that they knew of were not exactly the kind of people who would risk themselves by doing such reckless things. The crazy ones were still in Azkaban. Unless, she had mused, Voldemort wasn't possessing Quirrell this time.

Harry had immediately shot down that one. Quirrell had two auras, a clear sign that there were two spirits within his body. Tom _was_ with the man. Harry had also detected that Riddle's spirit was beginning to overwhelm Quirrell's. His aura seemed to be consuming the professor's. Something was different this time. He could feel it.

* * *

Quirrell clutched the stone as he walked around Hogwarts that night, the pain much less than before. A dark liquid dripped from it. He had placed a spell around himself, one that would Vanish the liquid before it hit the ground. Every so often, the man would stop, remove a small vial from one his pockets, and pour it onto the stone. When he did, the stone would pulse violently, like it was trying to shake off the liquid. However, it never managed to get much of the fluid off. Eventually, it stopped pulsing and he started to walk again. The stone was constantly pulsing lightly, and without the mind-numbing pain, Quirrell could detect the individual pulses. Every so often, the stone would pulse a bit faster and Quirrell would get excited, starting to look around. However, he never seemed to find what he was looking for, and the stone's vibrations ceased. His master was pleased with the new potion, but furious that he had still been unable to locate the Well. It was as if there were something actively hiding it.

* * *

In the Hogwarts dungeons, Severus Snape finished the Draught of Living Death that he'd been making. He pocketed eight vials of it, then Vanished the remnants and cleaned up the ingredients. He had completely concealed the presence of the potion and its making. He made his way through the castle until he reached the fourth floor. He reached a hallway that was devoid of portraits and pointed at a specific spot on the right hand wall. It melted away, revealing a hidden room.

Severus stepped into the room, watching as it sealed up. He stood in the darkness for a moment, then waved his wand. As if a curtain had been lifted, four goblins were revealed. They were engulfed in light that seemed to be emanating from the chains that were binding them. They were all unconscious.

Snape pulled out four of the vials and poured them into the goblins' mouths, ensuring their continued slumber. He gestured again, conjuring a disillusionment charm in the form of a sheet, blocking off the view of the goblins. He waved the wand and light appeared. Then, he pointed at a wall and a closet opened. Inside it, there were two drawers and a pair of two-foot tall doors.

He opened up the top drawer and found himself in a room, filled with hundreds of potions. He located several identical vials and placed the ones from his pocket with them. Each potion in the room was a poison, truth serum, or other potion of similar uses. He knew them all by name, since he had brewed them all. He walked out of the open doorway and found himself back outside the cabinet. Inside the top drawer was a perfect painting of the room. The second drawer led to a similar room, save that the potions within were the antidotes for the poisons, as well as several beneficial potions, such as healing potions, blood-replenishment potions, and Skele-Gro. It had a painting of the room within as well.

If he had opened the doors, he would have found himself in front of a weapon rack. It was filled with torture tools, including multi-tongued whips and bladed weapons. Each tool was enchanted and would have been utterly illegal. If anyone from the Ministry had seen this closet, Snape would have been in Azkaban for life. The same was true for the hidden compartment in his office.

Before he closed the closet, he retrieved a dozen vials of a special potion that he had made under his master's orders. He placed the vials in a small sack that was enchanted to be invisible to everyone except himself and the Defense professor. He dispelled the complicated locking spell on the professor's office door and left the sack within, before replacing the lock spell.

Snape considered the potion. It had been extremely difficult to make, even for him. The serum was mostly blood, with several corrupting agents. The potion would have been instantly lethal had it been drunk. After all, goblin blood was not exactly healthy to drink, even without added poisons.

* * *

**Voldemort's getting closer. Snape is going to be kicked out of Hogwarts before Harry leaves for the end of the year, unless I get a bunch of responses from people who want him to stay as a spy. Dumbles will probably follow suit in year two, unless people want him out sooner.**

**Who do people want to see as new teams in the tournament next time? I'm not promising that you'll see your team there, but I'd like to see some suggestions. **

**I still haven't decided on Hermione's transformation. She isn't going to be anything reptile or draconic. Ideas anyone?**

**Keep on reviewing!**


	14. Tournament

Neville Longbottom walked sleepily towards the Headmaster's office. He shook his head, trying to clear the exhaustion that threatened to drag him back to the sweet oblivion of sleep. Dumbledore had somehow woken him up at one in the goddamn morning. He wanted Neville to go see him. Neville had never even thought of refusing or going back to sleep.

The gargoyle opened up for Neville, under Dumbledore's orders. Neville stumbled up the stairs, tripping about halfway up. The gargoyle cackled as Neville struggled to get back to his feet and climb the rest of the staircase.

"Ah, Neville! Come in, come in." Dumbledore said.

"Wh- What can- can I do for you?" Neville said, yawning. He felt an intense pain somewhere in the middle of his forehead as he showed the older man disrespect.

Dumbledore pointed his wand at Neville, who was suddenly alert. "That's much better. Now, I know that you are participating in the tournament today. I wanted to teach you some new spells, so that you can destroy the fools who oppose you." He said. He pulled out a potion that he'd made. "Here, drink this." Neville did so without even asking what it did. "That potion will make it easier for you to learn and multiply your magical energy by a factor of five for one week."

It will also cause you to experience rage much more easily, as well as leaving you utterly susceptible to the will of the first person you see after drinking it. Dumbledore thought with a mental chuckle. Harry Potter will not stand a chance against your new strength. The rage will ensure that he is thoroughly broken. Once his Occlumency barriers have been destroyed by the battle with Neville, I can use my mind magic to reshape him as the sacrificial weapon he must become. He must be defeated. For the 'Greater Good'.

Dumbledore spent the next seven hours teaching Neville spells that would be considered highly dangerous under the best of circumstances. Most of them were borderline Dark Arts, while there were several that were some of the worst curses known to wizardkind. He made several adjustments to Neville's subconscious mind, erasing his natural desire to keep people from harm. Dumbledore had to do this every few days, as well as give him an obedience potion, in order to ensure that _this_ weapon remained under his control. It had been dangerous when he'd been gone for a week, but it seemed that nothing had changed, and Dumbledore had made sure to give him twice the usual before the boy had returned to Hogwarts after the Christmas break.

* * *

After breakfast that morning, the tournament schedule was randomly determined. There were

ninty-six teams signed up for it. The tournament was divided into six groups of sixteen, to lessen the number of duels. Dueling Arenas were set up in the great hall, two in the dungeons, and three in the grounds. The tournament was single-elimination, with the winning team of each group moving on to the collective semifinals. Then, the winners of the three semifinal matches would face off in a massive 3 team duel.

Harry and Hermione were placed in Block A, while Neville's team was in block F. They would not duel until the finals. The rest of Block A were Slytherins. Malfoy was among them.

* * *

Hermione fired off a jet of blue-white light that smashed into one of the Slytherins, then bounced from him into another. It jumped from him to the third member of their team, knocking them all out. She smiled. She'd developed the Chain-Stunner in the war, to deal with multiple Death Eaters. It was ironic that the three people that she'd just used it on had been exposed to the same spell in the future.

She looked over at Harry, who was dueling with a seventh year. The other boy fired a stunner at Harry, who retaliated with his own. The two spells collided. However, Harry's ripped through the other spell, absorbing it into itself. The seventh year was not only knocked out, but thrown back, hitting the magical wall of the arena.

She was dumbstruck. His regular stunner shouldn't have been able to do that. No matter how powerful he was, his spells shouldn't have been able to assimilate the energies of another spell. Disperse them, yes, but to absorb them? Something was going on here.

"And the Potters pull out an outstanding win! Looks like whatever out-of-class learning they've been doing has been paying off." Lee Jordan, who had offered to announce the tournament, shouted into the microphone. "I wouldn't want to be those snakes in the morning!"

Harry and Hermione cleared the stage, so the next match could begin. "How did you do that?" Hermione asked.

"Do what?" Harry asked.

"Absorb that spell." She clarified.

"Oh. Well, I'm not quite sure." He looked at the watch on his wrist. "This thing vibrated when I cast the spell… It doesn't normally do that."

The questions that they had about the mysterious artifact continued to pile up. They had to find some answers soon.

* * *

The tournament was proceeding well. Harry and Hermione won their next two matches with ease. Outside, however, things were not as simple. Neville was using his new power to destroy his opponents before they could even raise their wands. None of his opponents had woken up yet, and they had all been rushed to the Hospital wing, since Neville had not used a single stunner. All of his opponents had been brutally injured. Even his own team was scared of him and had quit. Only Ron stayed with him.

Other notables included Malfoy's team, consisting of himself, Crabbe, and Goyle. The Weasley twins had also been participating, toying with their opponents before destroying them, in Block C. There had been a surprisingly powerful Hufflepuff team, led by Cedric Diggory in Block B. There had been a team of Prefects in block D, but they'd been eliminated. Block E had ended in a draw, with neither participant moving on.

* * *

"It's time for the Block A Finals!" Jordan shouted. "The undefeated Potters versus Team Malfoy, who've been playing surprisingly fair for a group of Slytherins! Both teams ready?" Harry and Malfoy nodded. "Begin!"

Hermione narrowly dodged a blast of fire. She rolled beneath it and fired off a compressed sphere of magical energy. It was barely a centimeter in diameter, but it was packed with the equivalent of three stunners. Malfoy used a burst from his wand to force Crabbe away from the glowing red bead of light. Harry was surprised. Compassion for his minions?

Goyle tried a quick slashing charm towards Harry. Harry quickly cast a shield charm and absorbed the hit. He chained a stunner, an Impediment hex, and two more hexes that no one in this time would know, sending a barrage of light towards the buffoon. He actually managed to avoid most, but one of the hexes hit him. His left ankle shot up, connecting to the boy's left wrist. Goyle collapsed. It wasn't a dangerous spell, actually, just a joke spell. However, until the counterspell was applied, the boy would be stuck like that. Goyle was out of the battle.

Malfoy fired off a yellow spell at Harry. He lazily set up a shield, but was surprised when the jet hit the wall and continued. The yellow was now gone, replaced with the usual red of stunner. Harry threw himself to the side, pulling all of his essence out of his left arm. When the stunner hit, the arm was the only thing frozen, since it wasn't connected to the rest of the boy. Hermione caught the distracted Malfoy with an invisible spell that sent him flying.

Crabbe was the only one left, and he started to panic, throwing off wild spells. Hermione chuckled as she trapped Crabbe in a sphere made out a magical mirror. The spells started to bounce off, hitting Crabbe. She immediately dispelled the globe, levitating the boy to the ground.

"And, despite being outnumbered and outsized, the Potters pull out another win! Did you see the size of those two?"

In front of the wall with the tournament tree, Flitwick moved his wand in a slasing motion. "TEAM MALFOY" was struck through and "THE POTTERS" moved to the top of Block A.

"And it looks like the Potters will be facing Diggory's team in the semifinals! The Block A&B semifinal will be held here in the Great Hall after lunch!"

* * *

High above them, Quirrell was pacing across the seventh floor. The stone was pulsing quite often now. It seemed that the goblin blood potion was helping with the stone's inherent… difficulties. He knew the Well was near, but no matter how many times he walked past the Room of Requirement, he never found it. His master had been sure that it would have been hidden within the safest place in Hogwarts. He knew that it was on the seventh floor. All he had to do was find it.

* * *

**Next time, the finals, Hermione's Animagus form, and Voldemort finds what he's been looking for. The first real battle will be within the next two or three chapters.**

**Not much else to say, except that we'll be seeing what really is going on with Snape before the year is over. **

**If people have complaints about the short duels, let me know and I'll make them longer for year two. There will be no Horcrux, by the way. **

**Keep the reviews coming. I'll update as soon as I can.**


	15. Finals and Transformations

"Welcome back to the semifinals of Hogwarts' first dueling tournament!" Lee Jordan shouted into the microphone. "For Blocks A&B, we've got Team Diggory vs. The Potters!" There was a round of applause for both teams. "Both teams ready? Begin!"

Diggory immediately engaged Hermione as Harry ducked, narrowly avoiding a stinging hex cast from Susan Bones. The other first year was surprisingly quick, but Harry's combat reflexes enabled him to dodge. He fired off a blast of air at her that knocked her to the ground. He caught her in the stomach with a stunner as she fell.

As Harry pulled back, Justin Flinch-Fletchley fired a stunner at him from the side while Ernie Macmillan fired one from behind him. The watch absorbed one while Harry blocked the other. He stunned Justin, but before he could deal with Macmillan his precognition activated. He threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding a jet of red light. He looked in the direction and saw Hannah Abbot, stunned that she missed.

"And with a ploy worthy of a Slytherin, Abbot nearly gets Harry in the back. She is one sneaky badger. I wonder, how did Harry see that? Maybe he can see the future. Maybe he'll finally replace that fraud, Trelawny!" He said, having no idea how ironic the statement was.

Ignoring the annoying commentator, Harry twirled his wand, a pulsing sphere of blue light appearing in the air high above him. It sent out spotlights that illuminated Abbot, Macmillan, and Diggory. Suddenly, the three Puffs were blind. Harry sent stunners at all three. He stunned the first years, but Diggory was slightly more intelligent. He ducked, expecting the light. Unfortunately for him, Hermione landed one right in the center of his forehead, knocking him out.

"And the Potters win! They'll move on to the three-team final!"

* * *

The teams for the finals were the Twins, Neville and Ron, and the Potters. The entire Great Hall was their stage. There were magical sensors that would project the battle to the spectators.

As Harry looked at Neville, he saw the other boy's eyes turn to him. He was surprised at the level of sheer animosity. Harry couldn't remember doing anything to the boy today. He looked at Hermione, sending a mental query. She shook her head. She had no ideas either. Suddenly, Neville's aura flickered and Harry thought that he saw dark chains within it, forcibly extending it. Then, it was normal again. Something was seriously wrong.

"All teams ready? Begin!"

Neville pointed his wand at Harry, who used the watch to absorb the curse. He was surprised at the massive level of power that the boy had thrown into the curse. If it had hit, Harry probably would have lost a limb. Was Neville trying to kill him?

He fired a boosted stunner at Ron, not having time to deal with the annoying boy. Ron threw up a shield, but the stunner absorbed it, smashing into the Weasel.

After a quick mental conversation, Hermione moved on the twins while Harry turned to Neville. He narrowly avoided a Sectumsempra spell, shocked that Neville would use such dark magic. Neville fired spell after spell, Harry blocking or absorbing each one. Neville's magical core seemed inexhaustible.

Neville slashed at Harry with his wand again. This time, a wave of darkness followed the path of the wand. Harry's magical sight realized that the dark power was impossible to dispel and would consume any magic used to block it. With reluctance, Harry called out. "_Arma Magestus_!"

Harry met the wave of darkness with the glowing Sword of Griffindor. The ancient power of the weapon obliterated the dark spell. The watch began to pulse, but Harry didn't notice as he hefted the sword again. This was going to be a long fight.

* * *

Hermione smiled as she parried a stunner from one of the twins. This was a fun duel. She knew that she could beat them both in a straight fight, but their manner of fighting was both distracting and effective. They had nearly perfect coordination, and seemed to have mastered their timing. If she moved to block one, the other would hit her.

She used illusions to make them miss while she created barriers to block their attacks. She danced in between hexes, laughing at them. At one point, she created a mimic that she could control with her mind while she hid with a Disillusionment charm. They aimed at it while she had it avoid all of their attacks. None of them could hit the illusion, but she had a lot of fun tricking them. She wondered how long they would try before they realized that it wasn't solid.

* * *

Harry deflected curses, knocking them aside as they came. He actually thought that he saw some silent Crucio spells, but he wasn't sure. Would Neville really sink so low? He saw a dark glint in the other boy's eyes and knew something really bad was about to happen. The boy pointed his wand at Harry and a dark form exploded from it. It resembled a wolf Patronus, except that it was made of darkness.

Harry retaliated with his own Patronus, the phenolisk and the wolf battling in the middle of the room. Harry and Neville were both immobile as their magical representations battled for supremacy. Even Hermione and the twins stopped their battle, watching the two battling creatures.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the battle was finally coming to a close. Silver flames streaked from the phenolisk as it surged towards the wolf, biting down on its leg. The wolf kicked it away, spitting shadow as it flew away. The wings of silver flame flapped as the phenolisk stabilized itself in midair and breathed out an enormous beam of silver flame. There was a massive explosion as the two attacks met, a swirling sphere of darkness and light. The blast caused the entire castle to tremble.

* * *

Harry was worried. It wasn't for himself, but for Neville. As much as he disliked this incarnation of the boy, he didn't want the kid killed. The boy was pouring his entire essence into this one spell. Harry wasn't even close to depleted, although his energy was much lower than it had been since he'd arrived at Hogwarts. He needed to end this now.

With a thought, he triggered the power of his watch, watching as his patronus was infused with a blue light. Its flame smashed through the dark form and into Neville. The boy was knocked unconscious instantly.

Hermione stared for a moment longer, then turned and stunned the still-distracted twins. They hit the ground, disappearing in a flash of blue as they did.

There was a moments pause. "And, after an amazing duel, the Potters win!" Jordan shouted. "Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to try to avoid pissing off the first years. I don't want to be on the receiving end of one of their wands!" He said with a laugh.

Harry and Hermione kissed in the middle of the Great Hall, before walking up to Jordan. Harry took the microphone. "We plan to donate our winnings towards the tournament next year, as well as any fees that there might be to keep the League going. We plan to get the tournament as an annual even. We hope that there will be this good a turnout every year. Also, we'd like to thank everyone who participated and helped, especially Professor Flitwick, who orchestrated this entire tournament and for his sponsorship of the Dueling League." There was a massive amount of applause for the tiny professor. Harry suspected that his classes would be a bit more respectful, after realizing that he was in charge of all of the duelists at the school.

* * *

While they were by the lake that afternoon, Hermione felt a terrible ringing noise echoing through her skull. She and Harry Apparated into the Chamber and rushed into the large room where Hermione had brewed her Animagus potions. The potions were designed to force the body to adjust to the changing and stabilize it. They were finally complete.

Harry walked her through the procedure. There were three layers of spells, with two doses of potions in between. The entire process would take exactly thirty-seven minutes. Of course, this was using a procedure that was a thousand times easier than the one currently in place. Harry had devised this method before he had done his own transformation.

"You don't have to do this now, do you?" Harry asked. "You know that this'll hurt… Are you sure you want this now? You don't-"

"Yes, I'm sure." Hermione snapped. "Now, let's begin."

"But… It could kill you-" He tried again.

"You won't let anything happen to me." Hermione said confidently. "Please?" She begged.

Harry groaned. "Fine."

* * *

Thirty-seven minutes later, Harry had cast the final spell. He watched in horror as the love of his life convulsed on the floor, excruciating pain rushing through her. Her magical core couldn't take the drain on it. Harry placed his hands on her shoulders, funneling his own energies into her body.

"MIA!" He called. The bird appeared with a flash of multi-colored fire. "I need your help."

The phoenix immediately understood and began to cry, her tears washing over Hermione's body, which began to stop its spasms. Harry took his hands away, unwilling to overload her body with power. He'd done all he could. It was up to her now.

* * *

Dumbledore was furious. The Longbottom boy had not only failed, but he'd been so badly damaged that he'd been sent to St. Mungo's. They had found signs of tampering with his magical core and had locked him in a secure ward. The only ones allowed within were doctors who had sworn Unbreakable Vows that they would do nothing that could be considered harmful to Neville. Not even Dumbledore was permitted within.

He'll be there for at least two months?! Dumbledore thought angrily. My control over him will be completely gone by then! I must do something. But what?

While he was considering the problem, an owl flew by and dropped a letter. He was being summoned to the Ministry for an inquiry. He was suspected of tampering with the boy.

When he arrived in court, Amelia Bones told him to swear an Unbreakable Vow to answer all questions pertaining to Neville Longbottom to the best of his knowledge. He tried to explain that it was unnecessary, but Amelia was adamant. With the sheer number of people within the room, he would never be able to bewitch everyone there. He had no choice. He swore the Vow, then watched helplessly as his wand was confiscated. The trial brought out the truth of their relationship.

* * *

As Quirrell walked past the gargoyle of the Headmaster's office, the stone in his hand began to pulse faster. He knew that the Well he sought was nearby. McGonagall was holding a meeting with the three other House Heads within. He was so close that he could almost taste the power. His master was pleased. All he had to do was find a way to get the office emptied. He did not want to risk a confrontation. Besides, there was one more part of the plan that must be completed. One week, and he would seize the power he sought.

* * *

Harry watched as Hermione trembled. Her body shook. Her eyes began to change as her skin turned pale. Her muscles changed and expanded. She rose onto all fours as her skin began to grow into fur. Her nails expanded, as did her teeth. Her brown hair was sucked into her skin as it was replaced with white fur. Her ears rose, changing. Around her wrists and up her forearms, her fur turned the same shade of brown as her hair.

Harry watched as Hermione turned into a massive white tigress. Her eyes were constantly changing, never a single color. They shifted through all of the colors of the rainbow. As she opened her mouth, red lightning crackled between her fangs. She leaned in and licked Harry's face with a tiger's version of a smile. He felt an electric tingle as his face was soaked. The extremely acidic saliva was ignored as the phenolisk within him negated the deadly fluid.

Harry stared in awe. Hermione's Animagus transformation was a legendary animal. The breed of tiger that she had become was said to have fallen from space and possess amazing powers. She was a Star Tiger.

* * *

**Okay, the question is finally answered. If I get responses with an overwhelming hatred of the name, I'll change it. **

**I intentionally left Dumbledore's trial for next time. Any suggestions as to what should happen to him?**

**Neville's finally going to come to his senses, leaving Ron and Draco as the Hogwarts idiots. He might join the group of people that Harry and Hermione consider friends, but he probably won't be back till after year one.**

**By the way, the potion he drank was essentially Imperius Curse in a bottle, although it had the side effect of boosting his power.**

**Fight with Voldy soon!**

**Please review, but try to keep it to compliments, suggestions, and constructive criticism. **


	16. Ruin

It had been one week since Hermione had found her tiger form. Ever since, she had been filled with energy. She could feel the instincts of the tiger taking over sometimes, such as when Malfoy started to bother her mate. She also had begun eating a lot more.

Whenever they were in the Chamber, Harry had her use her tigress form as much as possible. He knew that she needed to get used to the way that the body worked, as well as get used to shifting. Strong emotions tend to have an effect, causing Animagi to shift involuntarily. Having her master the shifting would cut down on those accidental occurrences.

Thankfully, they didn't have to worry about the Animagus Registration laws. Being a Lord exempted them from a lot of those issues. The only real problem with shifting in public was that they might accidentally hurt someone, especially if they let their animagus forms emotions rule. Besides, the two didn't want everyone to know about their forms yet.

* * *

Harry was in the Chamber, laughing with Hermione, when his wand suddenly exploded into light. A massive sphere of light expanded from it, enveloping them both. Feeling a strange pressure, the two Apparated instinctively, not worrying about the coordinates. They found themselves on the seventh floor. The Headmaster's office gargoyle was in a thousand pieces on the ground. The passageway was wide open. However, just past the entrance, there was a large hole in the wall. It revealed a hidden tunnel. It was dark, but with the light from their wands, the two could see that it was empty. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then climbed into it.

As they walked down the tunnel, they came upon many different defenses. There were blades that looked as though they'd been ripped from the wall, poisoned darts littered across the floor, and what looked like magic-powered automatons. There were also signs of extremely powerful magical defenses that had been destroyed.

The tunnel reminded them of the one with that they'd found the watch in. The tingling wasn't there, but now that the defenses had been triggered, they learned that the tingling must have been some method of detection that Hermione had never heard of.

Harry saw a green light at the end of the tunnel and knew what was happening. Voldemort was after another of the runes. If this one was anything like the power of the watch, Harry knew that he couldn't let Voldemort get control of one. The results would be catastrophic.

He increased his speed, Hermione doing the same. When they entered the area, however, they saw a massive metal chimera. It looked identical to the carving on the back wall. It was standing over a heptagonal artifact, similar to the one in the cave on the cliff. This one was giving off green light, but was wrapped in some sort of protective aura. The chimera roared, and charged towards them.

There was no time to think, only to react. They both shifted. Harry flew into the air and unleashed his flaming breath upon the metal beast. He was surprised to see that it had suffered almost no damage. Hermione charged at it, biting at one leg. It reared up and knocked her away, screeching.

Harry struck at it with his tail, and was surprised to see the metal bubbling when it hit. It also ripped a deep gash in the creature's back. He summoned a dozen of blasts of spectral flame, smashing into the chimera from all sides. He could see it beginning to melt, but his excitement was short-lived. The metal began to resolidify almost immediately. He shifted back, retreating so that he would be out of the creatures range. Then, as Hermione attacked the creature with her tiger form, he sent a barrage of spells at it. At first, it seemed to resist the spells, but after Hermione bit it, they had much more effect. He managed to destroy one leg, followed by the tail.

Harry realized that the creature was suffering from the electricity of Hermione's bite. He quickly sent a massive bolt of lightning from his wand, smashing into the chimera. Hermione struck it in the head with her claws, following that strike with a series of blows. The creature simply broke apart, the pieces melting as they hit the ground. Hermione ran to Harry and shifted back.

Then, they heard clapping. Quirrell was standing in front of the heptagonal artifact. He held a small metal box, with a glowing green rune on it.

"I really must thank you." He said. "The Guardians are powerful. It would have been quite… irritating to fight it." He tilted his head. He nodded. "Yes, Master." He unwrapped his turban.

"So," Harry asked conversationally. "Is Tom going to show his ugly mug?" He looked over at Hermione. "Prepare yourself. He's quite hideous."

"How do you know that name?" Hissed Voldemort.

"I know a lot about you, Riddle. I know that you've got your little Horcruxes, which are the only thing keeping you tethered to this world. I know exactly where you keep them, and, after I kill you here, I'm going to destroy them all." Harry chuckled.

"Now now, Harry." Hermione chided. "You forgot about me."

"Ah yes, let me rephrase that. WE are going to destroy them all."

Voldemort laughed. "You are amusing, boy. I will offer you one chance. Join me. You will be a great aid in bringing about the new world."

"Um… No." Harry said, laughing. "Do you really think that I would? I mean, you killed my parents."

Voldemort gestured with Quirrell's wand. Harry felt a binding force slam into him. Tom was a hell of a lot stronger over here. Harry struggled to break the bindings. His magic slammed into them, the two powers colliding. Harry was only seconds from freedom when he heard Voldemort invoke a spell.

He looked over at him to see the box hovering in mid-air. The wand was touching the box, pointing right at Quirrell.

"_PARTUM ANIMA SOMES!_"

There was a blast of black energy that exploded from the box. Harry could only watch as Quirrell screamed. He obviously hadn't been expecting this. His flesh seemed to peel away, revealing the body of Voldemort. It was slightly different than Harry remembered. The box had been absorbed into his body. A glowing green rune appeared on the back of his hand.

"Be honored, boy. You are the one witness to my rebirth."

Harry shook his head as he finally broke the binding. This may not be going as planned, but he could still win. He lunged at Voldemort, wand spewing fire. His spell slammed into Voldemort, whose shield spell completely ignored the immense flame. Voldemort fired a Killing Curse at Harry, who absorbed it into his watch. The force still shoved him back.

"Where did you find that watch, boy?" Voldemort asked.

Harry pointed his wand at the Dark Lord. A small disc of light poured out of the wand's tip. A hundred needles of silver energy exploded from the disc. They ripped through Voldemort's shields and cut into his body, inflicting minor damage. Voldemort waved his wand and his wounds were healed.

"A cave." Harry said. He wasn't really afraid of Tom anymore, although he hadn't expected the man to be this strong. "It was dark and empty. It reminded me of you." He absorbed a Killing Curse into the watch.

"It appears that I am in luck. I will have two Keys before the day is done." Voldemort laughed as he fired a Crucio at Harry.

"Keys?" Harry asked as he avoided the deadly spell and retaliated with a blast of scarlet energy. The blast ripped through Tom's shield, throwing him back. He landed on his feet.

"The Throne Runes will allow me to acquire a power unlike any other." He answered as he blocked it. He fired another Killing Curse, but Harry managed to dodge. "You are quite skilled. I will offer you a second chance. Join me." Voldemort stated.

"I'd rather die." Harry snarled, firing a stream of white light from his wand. The Dark Lord blocked the spell, but the light ate away at the shield. Voldemort released a chain of shadow that wrapped around the light and the two spells destroyed each other.

"Then you and your Mudblood whore will die." He pointed his wand at Hermione, who was still bound by his spell earlier. The rune blazed bright green.

"NO!" Harry screamed. He was too far away to take the blast himself. "_PROTEGO ULTIMA!_" The shield appeared in front of Hermione. It's light was almost blinding.

"_Avada Kedavra._" Voldemort poured all of his power into the one spell. The jet of green light ripped through the shield and smashed into Hermione. She slammed into the floor and was still.

Harry opened his mouth and screamed. However, there was no sound, Harry's anguish was so great that no mortal sound could express it. The entire castle shook, throwing the inhabitants to the ground. The world itself trembled at his pain.

Harry released a massive amount of magical energy as he pointed his wand at Tom. His mental shout was so loud that everyone within ten miles could hear it, regardless of their mental barriers. The incantation that exploded from Harry's subconscious mutated, twisting until only a single word blazed in the minds of the entire present. _RUIN._

Harry's wand discharged a thousand beams of light exploded from the tip. They curved, attacking Voldemort from every direction. Voldemort cast a shield, but the light devoured it, destroying him utterly. Even as Voldemort was pulled back from death, the light was tracing the pathways of Tom Riddle's soul, annihilating the objects that bound him to life. His horcruxes were gone.

Harry collapsed by Hermione's side, sobbing. He hadn't even remembered Apparating. Tears poured freely from his eyes. Uncontrolled magic streamed from his breached seals, ripping at the chamber. A small black rock near the remains of Quirrell glowed and disappeared. Harry didn't even notice as a golden light enveloped him and his wife, causing them to vanish.

* * *

**Think Tom's dead? What about Hermione? You'll find out next time.**

**We'll finally learn about the runes and the Wells next time too. Harry will finally learn how he knew about the metal sphere.**

**Still not sure what's happening with Dumbles. Suggestions?**

**Year One is almost over. Year Two is going to be interesting.**

**Please Review.**


	17. Heart of Hogwarts

"_Hello, Harry."_ The melodious voice rang through Harry's mind, bringing him out of his slumber. He felt a strange warmth enter his body, soothing him. _"It is good to finally meet you."_

Harry opened his eyes. He saw a massive sphere of soft blue light. He appeared to be on a ledge in a massive circular chamber. The sphere was floating in the middle of the chamber, with a massive pillar of gold light extending upwards from it. The light seemed to pierce through the ceiling.

"Where am I?" He asked. He felt strangely weak.

"_You are still within me."_ The same voice stated. _"I could feel your pain, young Heir, and brought you here."_

"Who are you?" Harry asked, confused.

"_I am Hogwarts. Or, rather, her magical core. I am the sentience of the school, and her power."_

"I knew Hogwarts was sentient at home, but, since you never actually responded here, I wasn't sure. I never knew that Hogwarts actually had a magical core. Guess I should have guessed…" It was then that Harry caught sight of Hermione's body and froze. "I can't- can't believe she's-" Harry felt a strange energy enter him, calming him down.

"_Your mate is not dead."_ The voice said. _"Her spirits were fractured by the Killing Curse. Had you not provided the barrier, the Curse would have obliterated her completely."_

"She's really not dead? What do you mean, fractured?" Harry asked, wary.

"_She will awaken, although not even I can guess what will happen when she does. The curse ripped her souls apart. If she had only possessed a single spirit, she would have been utterly destroyed. Her two broken spirits will merge into a single soul, although it will take time. She may not exhibit any changes, or she may be something completely new. She will be a fusion of past and future selves." _

Harry was stunned. "You know?"

"_Yes. I know about your trip through time. I sent my knowledge back with you. I was the one who suggested that you find the sphere. Without it's power, even you would be helpless against the coming threat."_

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "What is this metal?"

"_It is a substance forged over a thousand years, It is linked to the Throne Runes."_

"Tom mentioned them too. What are they?"

"_Do you know of the Kings?" _

Harry nodded. "The most powerful wizards in history. They were so powerful that they were accepted as rulers.. I believe… Merlin was the last one. Then… Something happened. The Wizarding world was divided."

"_What happened was Merlin coming to his senses. He used the power given to him by the Throne to destroy it. It was rent into seven shards. Each bears one of the powers that the Throne possessed. The abilities are extremely dangerous."_ Harry saw his watch being illuminated. _"You have one of them, the Rune of Absorption. Voldemort controls another, the Rune of Enhancement."_

"What do you mean? Why would he destroy the throne if it was so powerful?"

"_Because he learned of the source of the Throne's power. A demon god was sealed within. The seal on the Throne was weakening, so he was forced to take action. He broke the Throne into seven Runes, and sealed them in magical Wells across the globe. The Wells almost completely suppress the power of the Runes. Voldemort seeks the power of the Throne." _

A small black stone floated into Harry's vision. _"Tom was using the Keystone to locate them. It was created in case the Runes were needed. The stone is protected from Dark wizards like Riddle. He used a concoction made of magical blood and certain poisons to lessen the power of the stone's defenses."_ The stone dropped into Harry's hand and he slipped it into his pocket.

"The goblin attack!" Harry said, suddenly understanding. "He was after the blood of the goblins!"

"_Yes. Even so, he was forced to condition the body of Quirinus Quirrell so that he was capable of using the stone. Such conditioning would have caused immense pain, and likely physical maladies." _

"So, Tom is after this Throne?"

"_Yes. He seeks the power it contains, and believes that he can control the demon within."_

"But… That spell killed him, I could feel it destroying his horcruxes. What was that anyway?"

"_Your subconscious mind was reacting to the third death of your soulmate. It unleashed a power that enabled you to destroy him. Unfortunately, it seems that he has been called back by some unknown power. Whatever it is has the power to control death itself."_

"What do you mean third?" Harry asked, more worried about his wife than Voldemort.

"_She died twice in that moment, and once in the future."_

"Twice… as in both spirits?"

"_Yes. Your subconscious recognized both spirits being destroyed and reacted."_

"Alright, I guess. So… Tom really isn't dead?"

"_It appears that way."_

"Damnit." He paused. "Wait, if he was called back, and it wasn't of his own accord… Is there something else controlling him now?" Harry shook his head. "I'll worry about that later. What can I do to help my wife?"

"_Her body is undamaged. She will likely awaken within the hour. However, she will likely not survive until her spirit mends enough to control the body."_

"What do you mean?"

"_Even her subconscious mind is completely focused on regenerating her spirit. It will not even perform basic functions, such as breathing."_

"So I have to do everything for her with my magic." Harry said. "But, I think that, after that spell, I'll be drained for a while… What am I supposed to-"

"_There is another option. I can aid her in taking on her Animagus form and awakening its instincts. She may not be aware, but the tiger can control the body. She will likely be forced to remain in that state until she returns."_

"So you're saying that my wife will be stuck in tiger form until she wakes up." Harry paused. "Will she even recognize me? I mean, if her mind is gone, what about her memories?"

"_The tigress will identify you as her mate. She will protect you with all of her might. You must go now. Your magical core is severely depleted. You will not awaken for several days. If I use my powers keep you awake any longer, I am afraid that you will slip into a coma."_

"That's fine, I guess." Harry said. "I get the feeling that I'm going to have to talk to you again…"

"_I will be able to communicate with you so long as you are within the grounds of Hogwarts. The Well was blocking my abilities to communicate. In the future, I tried to aid you, but your mind was closed."_

"Thank you."

"_I will send you to the Hospital Wing. The professors will know why the tiger is there. I will inform them myself."_

There was a flash of golden light and chamber was empty, save for the glowing sphere.

* * *

It had been a full day and Harry was still unconscious. Mia had used her tears to heal him and was now out looking for food. Harry was sleeping peacefully, his magical core regenerating.

Hermione, in tiger form, was curled up near the bed. She watched as Harry's magic pulsed. Her eyes were capable of seeing the auras of those around her. As she looked around the room, she saw an aura seemingly connected to nothing approaching.

A blast of magic threw Hermione away. She smashed into the far wall of the room. She ran back, moving at incredible speeds. She was not fast enough to get there in time. She was horrified as she saw the greasy-haired man appear and point his wand at her mate. Its tip glowed green. Then, the silver-blue bird appeared and slammed into him, knocking him back as his robes caught fire.

Then, Hermione was there. Her claws slashed into his leg as she bit into the man's right arm. She ripped off the limb, casting it aside. She knocked him to the ground and raised her claw to deliver the final blow.

* * *

Poppy Pomfrey was sitting in her office when she heard a bang. She pulled out her wand and ran into the connected Hospital Wing. She was shocked at what she saw. Professor Snape was on the ground, missing an arm. The tiger that she knew to be Hermione Potter was about to take off the man's head. She pointed at Hermione and shouted "_Stupefy!_" The jet of red light knocked Hermione back, but didn't stun her.

She saw the savaged leg and the burning robes and knew something was going on. "What on earth happened here?!" She demanded. The tigress was watching her angrily. It was like she wanted to rip her throat out, yet knew that she wasn't supposed to.

She saw Harry's phoenix, Mia, fly down. Somehow, the bird seemed to reach into her mind. She saw images. Snape entering cloaked. Snape blasting Hermione away. Snape about to kill Harry Potter. She touched her wand to her throat.

* * *

"PROFESSORS MCGONAGALL AND FLITWICK! COME TO THE HOSPITAL WING IMMEDIATELY!" Madam Pomfrey's voice echoed throughout the school.

Within minutes, the two professors arrived. "What is it, Poppy?" asked McGonagall as she ran in. Then she saw Snape. "What on earth happened here?!"

"Apparently professor Snape here tried to murder Mr. Potter. Mrs. Potter and this phoenix managed to stop him. At the time, I was in my office and only managed to get here in time to stop her from killing him." She said.

"And how do you know that Mrs. Potter did not simply lose control and attack Severus?" asked McGonagall. As a fair Headmistress, she wanted to get both sides of the story.

"This phoenix projected the memory of the attack into my mind." She explained.

They all froze at that. "Phoenixes shouldn't be able to do that." McGonagall said, shocked.

Before they could say anything else, Mia projected the same memory into all of their heads. They were all shocked to see how casually Snape walked over to the Potter boy and point at him. They recognized the green light as well.

"How could Severus use an Unforgivable Curse? And the worst of the three!" Shouted Flitwick, outraged. "And on a student!"

"We must contact the ministry immediately!" McGonagall agreed. "Severus Snape is hereby fired from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Before they could do anything else, Severus's left arm suddenly started to burn. His sleeve burned away, revealing a glowing Dark Mark. A sphere of darkness enveloped him. When it disappeared, the Dark Mark was branded into the floor. The professors looked at one another in shock.

* * *

**Not my favorite chapter, but necessary. I don't like dialogue.**

**I want to know what people think about the Rune idea. I took a lot of license there.**

**Next chapter will probably be the last one in Year One. **

**Operating under the usual HP book title rules, Year Two will be named: "Harry Potter and the Serpent Virus"**

**Please Review!**


	18. Return

**Okay, I realized that I didn't really make the timeline very clear. Up until right now, it wasn't very important. This chapter begins about a month before their final exams. **

**It is essentially an epilogue to Year One. It's pretty short, since not much happened.**

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Harry didn't wake up for three days. Thankfully, due to his Temporal Magic, he was able to see the days that he missed. He knew what had transpired in the Hospital Wing with Snape. He was surprised when he found that the rest of the students knew as well. The Slytherins looked on him with hate while the rest of the school was ecstatic to be rid of the prejudiced Potions Master.

He'd also found out what had happened in Dumbledore's trial. The old man had somehow managed to avoid any punishment. However, he had been forced to surrender his positions as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, because of the scandal caused by the trial. Amelia Bones had, apparently, been acting strangely for several days after the trial.

Dumbledore had been forced to take over the Potions classes, since the school no longer had a Potions Master. One other professor was always present in the classes, depending on which teachers had a free period at the time. Strangely enough, Dumbledore hadn't tried anything. Or at least, none of the teachers had noticed anything.

* * *

Harry and the white tiger walked the grounds. He looked down at the Animagus form of his wife. Judging from the slight activity at the other side of their mental link, Hermione was on the verge of coming back. He suspected that she'd be back within the day. He was ecstatic, but also terrified. What would be the result of her two spirits' fusion?

* * *

Harry led her into the castle, just as it happened. They were in the Entrance Hall when the tiger suddenly collapsed. It shifted back to Hermione, who was clutching at her skull. Pain raced through her body.

"Hermione?" Harry asked. Then feeling her pain through their link, he shouted. "HERMIONE!"

His voice seemed to affect her, calming some of her pain. He continued to call out to her as he began to direct healing spells into her. His voice seemed to lessen the pain, while the spells did not have any effect. He stopped the spells and grabbed onto her. At his touch, the pain died down. She opened her eyes.

"H-H-Harry?" She whispered.

He smiled. "Hermione."

"What happened?" She asked.

"Well… You were hit with the Killing Curse…"

"Is that why my head hurts so much?" She asked, shaking her head. "It's like I've been in a fog for the past year. I remember everything, but I can't remember what I was thinking when it happened. It's like I was someone else. I can't remember-" She looked at him quizzically.

Before she could continue, Draco Malfoy walked down the stairs, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "Did I hear that right, Potter? Your Mudblood bitch lost her memory?"

Harry was furious, but before he could do anything, Hermione had her wand pointed straight at Malfoy. A spell exploded from the wand, striking him in the abdomen. It punched a small hole through him. Malfoy stumbled back as though shot. Crabbe and Goyle reached for their wands.

"I suggest that you take that idiot and run. Before I lose my temper." Harry growled. His tone of voice brooked no argument. The two larger boys picked up Draco and ran.

The rage in Hermione's eyes was very familiar to Harry. In the future, it had led to an extremely unpleasant death for most people. For Harry, it had usually entailed being yelled at, then kicked out of her bed for a few days.

"I guess you want the answers to your questions now…" He said, hesitant. "Will you come with me? I want to take you to the Chamber…"

She looked at him with a smile as she nodded, her anger forgotten.

* * *

Harry spent the next few hours explaining everything that had happened in the school year. She took it all in stride, believing every word he said. It seemed that she could feel the memories of her future self, but couldn't access them. It was like there was some sort of transparent mental wall.

From what he could tell, the girl before him had access to all of the memories of the year, but she couldn't actually remember what she was thinking at the time, kind of like a Pensieve memory. He also learned that she had access to her future self's magical skills. It seemed that the only feelings that she could remember were those that she had felt while she was alone with him.

So, it looks like not much will have changed. Harry thought. I guess it's her past self with her future powers. Thankfully, our relationship seems to be undamaged. I would have hated to have had to rebuild it. Looks like the bond of soulmates runs deeper than I thought.

* * *

Over the next few weeks before exams, the two spent all of their time together, talking. Harry was trying to figure out exactly what had changed, besides the obvious factors, as well as getting her skills back. It wouldn't do for Hermione to have all of her magical secrets locked up inside her head. With his help, Hermione had regained her basic knowledge of magic, as well as the vast majority of her common spells. Unfortunately, it seemed that her true skills were still locked within her.

She was quite irritated about the missing knowledge. The fact that she knew that there was something that she couldn't remember caused her to have a constant, extremely annoying sensation that she was forgetting something. Thankfully, what knowledge she did recover was more than enough for her to pass her exams with ease.

* * *

The ride on the Hogwarts Express was uneventful. Malfoy had stayed far away after the incident in the Entrance Hall and Ron had been distracted by a few pranks played on him by the twins. The two had enjoyed the trip, eating candy and talking.

When they arrived, they found Hermione's parents waiting for them. They apologized profusely for their behavior over the winter break. They said that it was like they were being controlled. Harry had a sneaking suspicion that a certain annoying old man was behind their behavior.

After using his Temporal Vision powers to look at the past of the two adults in front of him, Harry found that he was right. Dumbledore had indeed visited the two, and had used the Imperius Curse on them. He had ordered them to find a reason to shun their daughter and her husband, in hopes that it would drive Harry to the nearest "caring adult". He had erased their memories of the meeting afterwards. Unfortunately, he couldn't use the event as cause to get Dumbledore locked up. The laws were only applicable to Wizards, not to Muggles. The two resolved to find a way to punish Dumbledore during the next year.

Originally, Harry had wanted to search for the Wells, to find them before Voldemort could. However, Hermione's parents seemed dead set on getting to know their new son-in-law. After Hermione sided with them, Harry couldn't do much to argue. After the first week, when the two adults saw how well the boy treated their daughter, they began to treat him like their own son. After over one hundred and twenty three years of life, Harry Potter finally knew what it was like to have parents.

* * *

**Not my best chapter. I hate writing endings almost as much as I hate beginnings. I could probably have packed all of the important information of this chapter into about two hundred words...**

**About what happened with Hermione. Essentially, the younger Hermione is mostly in control, but she has the older Hermione's memories of the past year, as well as her magical powers. She knows about the future, but not what happened there. Her relationship with Harry is unchanged, because she has inherited all of the memories and feelings of the two of them from the elder Hermione. The biggest difference right now will be her attitude, as well as her lack of future knowledge. She'll probably recieve bursts of memory from the future, if that makes any sense. Eventually, the older Hermione will resurface, although I'm not yet sure if it will be because she is taking over the body or if it is something else. **

**Wow, that was a mouthful. Let me know if that didn't make sense and I'll try to elaborate next time.**

**Next time, in the first chapter of Year Two, we'll finally learn about Sirius in this timeline. hint* He's not in Azkaban. *hint. **

**Please review.**


	19. Sirius

**Here's the first chapter of Year Two, Harry Potter and the Serpent Virus**

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_Harry Potter hissed in Parseltongue. _**"Open!"**_. The door to the deepest room of the Chamber of Secrets slid open. Inside was Voldemort, reborn into his body. He spoke._

"**Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." **_The words were the same as Harry remembered. _

_Harry saw the secret door hidden within the mouth of Slytherin's giant stone head open. Instead of the basilisk, a terrifying sight met his eyes. Every single student and teacher in Hogwarts emerged from the hole. As he looked at the group, they became a legion of snakes that surged towards him. As Harry was attacked, he heard Voldemort laughing._

* * *

Harry woke up with a start, shaking. His nightmare was unlike any other vision that he'd ever had. His scar was fine, so he wasn't sure that it was anything other than a usual nightmare. Of course, his mental shields would usually prevent the pain.

Harry looked at the clock and saw that it was only 2 A.M. He walked out into the hall, deciding to go for a walk, rather than risk another dream. As he passed the door to Hermione's, he felt a slight pang of annoyance. Hermione's parents may accept their marriage now, but Harry and Hermione were not allowed to sleep together, despite their protestations. They had already agreed not to do anything for at least another two years, anyway.

* * *

Once he got back from his walk, he saw that it was still 4:30 A.M. Getting bored, he decided that he would make some nice breakfast for the four of them. He had just gotten started when Hermione, rubbing her eyes, walked into the room. She was shocked to see him standing there.

"What are you doing up?" She growled.

Harry put up his hands. "I woke up earlier. I had a nightmare. Is it against the law for me to wake up early?"

She still looked annoyed. "You should be sleeping in on your birthday! I was planning on making you breakfast!"

Harry checked the calendar that the Grangers kept on the refrigerator door. She was right. It _was_ the 31st of July. He hadn't really paid attention to his birthdays, since he'd had no one to celebrate with for sixteen years. He sighed. "I forgot."

"You forgot your own birthday?" She asked, confused. "How?"

"I haven't really paid attention to it, since… well… you died."

She paused for a moment. "You mean you haven't thought about your birthday since the future me died? Didn't she- I mean, I-" She grew exasperated. "the future me die ten years before you came back? And you've been here for six, now seven, years?" She walked over, tears in her eyes, and hugged him. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." Harry muttered.

"I am going to make sure that this day is perfect." She promised.

* * *

At breakfast, Hermione's parents told him that they would allow him and Hermione to sleep in her room, so long as they both swore a magical oath (Hermione had told them about magical oaths being unbreakable) not to do anything but sleep. Harry had laughed and swore an Unbreakable Vow not to do anything with her in that house until next year. He'd gotten a friendly swat from Mr. Granger for his little addendums. They also gave him a Muggle magic set for shits and giggles.

Hermione hadn't been able to think of a single decent present idea. She had found Remus Lupin and had invited him over to come see Harry. He had agreed to give Harry some memories he had of James and Lily. Harry was shocked.

He hugged her. "Thank you so much. How on earth did you manage to convince him to give up those memories?"

"Um… Well… Let's not get into that. I tried to find Sirius, as well, but…"

"I know. He's nowhere to be-" Harry was interrupted as a large owl flew in through the window and dropped a letter in front of him. Then, it flew back out again. "What do we have here?" Harry wondered aloud.

He opened the envelope and read the letter within. "It's from the goblins at Gringotts. I had them hire some people to look for Sirius…" In this world, Sirius Black had actually managed to catch Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail had been given the Dementor's Kiss and Black was free. However, Sirius had mysteriously vanished not two days after the trial.

"He was finally spotted near Little Hangleton…" Harry continued. "Why would he be there?" Harry shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Are you coming?"

Hermione nodded vehemently. She looked at her parents. "We'll be back later." Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked confused but, seeing the look in Harry's eyes, they gave their consent. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and Disapparated.

* * *

Sirius Black, in Grim form, stalked towards the old shack. He had finally found another Horcrux, and he planned to destroy this one too. Suddenly, he heard a voice calling his name. He turned, not believing his ears. A young man with messy black hair and a girl with bushy brown hair were running towards him. He shifted back to his human form.

"James? It can't be." He whispered. Then he saw the young man's eyes, when he was only fifty feet away. "Harry?" He said a bit louder. "But… He said…" He stopped talking and grabbed his godson. "Harry! You're alive!" He shouted with glee.

"Of course I am." Harry said, ecstatic. "Where the hell have you been? I looked everywhere for you?"

"I've been searching for the objects that keep You-Know-Who anchored to life. His Horcruxes. They're Dark-"

"I know about them." Harry said quickly. "But they're all gone now."

Sirius shook his head. "How can that-"

"It's a long story." Harry said quickly. "But where were you? I was stuck with the goddamn Dursleys for years, before they died and I got myself emancipated. Why didn't you check up on me?"

Sirius snarled. "Dumbledore lied to me? He said you died! He told me about the Horcruxes, said that getting rid of them was the only way to avenge you and your parents!"

Harry's eyes blazed with energy as rage started to pour out of him in the form of his aura. Tendrils of energy ripped out from his body, smashing into nearby objects, as the ground around him cracked. A massive column of power smashed up from him, reaching into the sky. Harry rose into the air. "I'm going to kill him." Harry stated. It was a voice of absolute certainty, of absolute power.

"Harry." Sirius said, clearly intimidated. "Please. As much as we might hate him, he is the leader of the Light. The world needs him." He, of course, wasn't aware of the man's misdeeds.

At the sound of Sirius's voice Harry calmed himself slightly. However, it wasn't until Hermione squeaked out, "Please calm down Harry." that he allowed his power to recede.

Hermione was terrified. Without her future memories, she had no idea of the power that Harry possessed. The sight of his rage had reduced her almost to tears. Upon noticing this, Harry sent a few calming charms at her as he pulled her close.

"It's all right. Everything's fine." He cooed. He layered magic into his voice, ensuring that his words were soaked into her mind as well. She immediately calmed down, her fear gone.

He looked at Sirius. "We've got a lot to talk about. Why don't we head back to Grimmauld place?"

"But what about the Horcrux?" Sirius asked. "It should be right in that shack. Shouldn't we at least check?"

"I know that it is quite thoroughly destroyed, but if you really want to…" Harry shrugged. He pulled out his wand and gestured at the shack. His combined Banishing and Severing charms took off most of the house, leaving about two feet of walls and the floor. He had known exactly where the Horcrux was. It was in a box under a cabinet. He gestured at the shack again and the box flew out towards them. He flipped open the box with a spell and revealed the shattered ring. The Resurrection Stone was destroyed as well.

Sirius stared at Harry, stunned by his casual use of such powerful magic. "How the hell did you get so strong?"

"As I said. It's a long story. Let's go." With that, the three people vanished.

* * *

Sirius opened the door. As they stepped into the mansion, he heard the portrait of his mother begin to shriek about "Filthy Mudbloods" and "Blood traitor sons". Sirius shook his head.

"Sorry about her. The damned House Elf put a Sticking Charm on the portrait, so we can't really get rid of her…" His voice trailed off as Harry pointed his wand at the annoying picture. A jet of black light exploded from the wand, striking the center of the portrait. The thing began to burn and the woman within shrieked. The painting fell from the wall. By the time it hit the ground, it was a pile of ash.

"Annoying bitch." Harry muttered. He turned. "Oh, and speaking of annoying." Kreacher ran down the stairs screaming. With a gesture, he erased the memory of the Elf. He also cast a spell that would keep him unconscious until it was lifted. "I'll have you reprogram him later."

Sirius was shocked at his godson's strength again. "How did you…?"

"Let's talk." Harry said as he led his godfather into the dining room.

* * *

Sirius leaned back in his chair. "So you really came back in time and did all of that?" He shook his head. "This isn't some prank, is it." He asked warily.

Harry laughed. "No. It's not." He raised his wand. "I swear on my magic and my life that everything that I have told Sirius Black about my history has been truth." there was a blinding light as the oath was sealed.

"There goes that hope…" Sirius muttered. "So I really died in that other timeline? And it was because of Kreacher?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. I'm not going to let it happen this time around."

"Neither am I." Sirius stated. "You said that you would 'reprogram' Kreacher?"

"Yeah. Just tell him what you want and the spell should fill in the rest. He doesn't have any memories, so you'll have to do all of that. When you're done, you'll know. Then, just tell him to wake up." Harry shrugged. "Now, why don't we go see Remus. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." Sirius's face lit up at that.

The rest of the day was spent in pure happiness. Hermione had been right. It had truly been a perfect day.

* * *

**Okay, there's his birthday. The beginning was just a dream that _represented_ what was going to happen. Voldemort won't actually be back this year. **

**Sirius has been spending his time looking for Horcruxes, but without Dumbles' info, it was a lot harder for Sirius, hence the fact that it took him eleven years. He hasn't been reading papers either, due to his obsession with avenging the Potters.**

**Everybody give thanks to my little brother who wrote my college applications so that I could work on the story. **

**Next time, they go back to Hogwarts. **

**Please review! I'll update as fast as I can.**


	20. Apology

Albus Dumbledore was dozing in his office, which had been completely fixed before he'd seen the hole and destroyed gargoyle. Suddenly, he was awakened by a flash of multicolored light. He saw a letter addressed to him falling onto his desk. He opened it and scowled. It was from Sirius. The letter basically stated that Albus deserved to rot for separating Harry and Sirius for eleven years. It informed Albus that Sirius would never trust him again, and would try to convince others to do the same. Dumbledore pulled out a blank piece of parchment and raised his wand, intending to try and convince Sirius that he was wrong. He was about to transform the parchment into a Portkey when he realized that he didn't know where Sirius lived. He could barely remember that the Black's had a home, let alone where it was.

Albus leaned back in his chair, not very worried. He believed that no one would take the word of Sirius Black over that of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and Leader of the Light. He didn't realize that his word had taken a severe beating over the past year and that he wasn't trusted.

He felt no guilt over separating the Potter boy from his legal guardian. He had lied to the man for the "Greater Good". He had never cared about what was considered right and wrong. He believed that he was the only one who knew what was best for the world. He ignored laws, because he knew that they were made for "lesser people" who did not know how to act properly. He knew that he could find his way out of most charges, due to his influence and power.

During his most recent trial, he had, silently and wandlessly, used the Imperius Curse on Amelia Bones to clear him of all charges. He had also ordered her to look and destroy anything that could lead to problems for him in the future, and then forced her to forget everything. For the "Greater Good", he couldn't allow anything or anyone to interfere in his plans. If he could not use the Potter boy, they would have to be dealt with as well.

* * *

At the end of the summer, Harry and Hermione went to King's Cross Station. At Platform 9 ¾, they were seen off by the Grangers and Sirius. After bidding them farewell, the two made their way onto the train. They found an empty compartment and settled there. The majority of the ride was uneventful. However, about two hours after they had set off, Neville Longbottom walked into the compartment, followed by Ron Weasley. Longbottom looked hesitant as he walked in. Harry was on his feet in an instant, wand in his hand. Hermione had grabbed hers as well, but had not gotten up.

"What do you want, Longbottom?" Harry snarled.

Ron pulled out his own wand. "Shut up, Potter. We-"

"I wanted to apologize." Neville said, interrupting. "We… I've been acting like a ass to you both. I'm sorry for trying to… well… kill you during the tournament."

Ron stared at Neville in disbelief. "When you said that you wanted to go see the Potters, I thought you meant that you wanted to get payback for getting you sent to St. Mungo's!" He glared at Neville, clearly outraged. "Now you've gone and apologized to them?! You've done nothing wrong. Dumbledore said that they were horrible people a-"

"I know what happened to my magical core." Neville said. "Dumbledore was responsible. He was using a potion on me to bend me-"

"Who cares what he's done!? Everyone knows that he's the greatest Light wizard ever! If he did something to you, he obviously was acting for the greater good of the world and you should be honored!" Ron shouted.

"I don't consider being turned into a mindless pawn an honor." Neville said, icily.

Ron threw up his hands. "I guess you've gone soft on me. Looks like befriending 'Dumbledore's Apprentice' was a big waste of time." He turned and walked away, mumbling about making a new plan.

"I'm sorry about him." Neville said sheepishly, turning to look at Harry. "Really, I-"

"Alright. You're saying that you're sorry, I get it." Harry said. "But, you can't really expect us to forget a year of bullying overnight. If you're really sorry, you'll prove it." He put his wand away.

"It took courage to actually come and admit your mistake." Hermione said, putting her own wand back into her pocket. "I can see why you're in Gryffindor… assuming that this isn't some trick, of course."

Neville shook his head. "No trick. I'm just trying to apologize. And thank you for the compliment. I'll do my best to prove myself." He turned and walked away.

When he was gone, Harry sat back down, shaking his head. "He's not a bad kid in this world either. We could have been friends earlier, if not for that old fart's manipulations. I'm just hoping that he isn't permanently damaged by those Dark Arts. Using power like that can seriously mess with your head."

"If he's sincere, I'm sure he'll be able to resist. Hermione said. Then, she frowned. "But if what I'm getting from… the future me's knowledge is accurate, the Dark Arts have a magically addictive nature. As in, his magic has become attuned to the Dark magic." Seeing Harry nod, she continued. "He'll need to keep using it, won't he?"

"I'm afraid so. His magical power will likely begin to decline. His entire body will then follow suit, resulting in an almost non-existent immune system, total loss of muscle and bone strength, and eventual death."

She stared at him, eyes wide. "But what can we do?"

"Well, he has four options. Number one is do nothing and die. Number two is attempt to repair his magical core, which would require magic that has not yet been invented. Or, option three, which is, essentially, use of lesser Dark Arts in order to slowly remove the addiction. The fourth is, well… honestly, it is possible to use the Dark Arts without doing evil, but it would take an extremely moral witch or wizard to be able to do so." Harry paused. "I'll have to wait a while and see what he acts like before I decide which option would be best."

"In other words, you'll have to wait to see whether he was honest or not, before you decide whether to help him." She giggled.

Harry shrugged. "Pretty much."

* * *

After the feast that night, while they were walking down a hall, Harry's Temporal powers warned him of an attack. He knocked Hermione to the ground as a jet of red light shot through the spot she had been occupying. They looked back to see Draco Malfoy standing there, wand extended.

"What the hell, Malfoy!?" Harry growled. "We haven't even been back a day and you're already picking fights!"

"Shut up, Potter!" Malfoy snapped. "My father was furious at me when he heard that it was a Mudblood who cast the spell that hurt me. He wants me to kill her!" He spat, venomously. He fired another jet of light at the two of them, but Harry held out his watch, absorbing the spell.

"So, Daddy's little girl is going to do everything that his father tells him to?" Harry laughed. "What, do you wipe his ass for him too?"

Malfoy fired off a trio of spells at them. Harry cast a shield to block them. The two got to their feet. Hermione cast a stunner at him, but it dissolved as it hit him.

"Dragon hide robes. Enchanted for dueling. One hundred fifty galleons." Malfoy sneered. "How's it feel knowing that you could never afford anything like this? None of your spells can hurt me now."

Harry sighed. "If you want Dragon hide, then why didn't you just say so?" He pointed his wand at Malfoy.

An instant later, Malfoy was trapped inside of a massive blob of the same material that his robes had been made of. Hermione laughed at the sight of the Malfoy on the ground. He was, apart from his head, completely covered in the hide, almost like a body bag. Hermione walked over and tapped her wand on the sack of scales that contained the pure-blood wizard. Malfoy rose about an inch off the ground and started to float towards the Hospital Wing, hitting every wall and stair on the way there.

"Think that'll teach him to leave us alone?" she wondered.

"Not a chance." Harry replied.

* * *

**Okay, I just felt like doing a bit of Malfoy bashing at the end there. **

**How long should I make Neville work to get their forgiveness? What about his magic? Should he move to more normal spells or should he stay Dark?**

**Luna will be introduced soon. Should there be Ginny bashing or should she become their friend?**

**Next time, I think it'll be Lockhart's turn for some bashing...**

**Please keep reviewing!**


	21. Lockhart

Harry groaned as Gilderoy Lockhart walked into the room. He had always disliked this man, even before he knew that he had faked everything in his books. Harry had every intention of making the man's life a living hell before he left at the end of the year. Harry hoped that he and Hermione would drive the man out sooner.

Harry ignored the man as he began to give the same self-promoting speech that he had heard in the previous timeline. He began to create a spell fusion (essentially a special spell that is attached onto a normal spell) that would create a triggered repulsive field around a person. The field would not physically push people away, but, rather, cause them to look at the affected object with pure disgust. By the time Lockhart had finished talking, the spell had been perfected and attuned to Lockhart. More specifically, to the man's annoying smile.

Lockhart pulled out a cage filled with pixies. He wanted to see how they would 'deal with the pests'. Harry and Hermione shared a mental laugh. A moment after Lockhart released the creatures, Harry pointed his wand. There was a group of pixies attacking Ron, who was sitting in the front of the room. Harry positioned himself perfectly and fired the fused Stunner in the direction of Ron. Due to Harry's angle, the spell hit Lockhart right in the chest, causing him to fall over backwards.

Harry smirked. "Oops. Sorry, professor."

After several pixies had stuck Ron to the ceiling, Harry and Hermione took turns shooting painful hexes at the pixies. Of course, they 'accidentally' ended up landing about a dozen on Ron. As he opened his mouth to yell, one hit him in the tongue, making him unable to speak. They only stopped when Neville, who had actually been stunning the creatures, stunned the rest of them. He levitated them into the cage and closed it. After everything was settled down, Neville walked over to Lockhart and said "_Enervate_."

Lockhart stood up and looked around, dazed. "I'm all right, class. Don't worry, it'll take a lot more than that to hurt me." He flashed a reassuring smile at the class. The result was quite different than he'd expected. Everyone in the class ran away screaming. Harry and Hermione had followed them, despite Harry having used the counter on both of them.

* * *

Over the next few days, Lockhart had been utterly confused. He had no idea why everyone had run away from him the moment he smiled. Harry had to use a significant amount of restraint to avoid rolling on the floor laughing every time he saw the moron. Every time he and Hermione had a Defense class, the two would find at least one way to make the man look like an utter imbecile. Of course, it wasn't like they were making him out to be anything. They were just forcing him to show his true colors.

[

Harry and Hermione walked into the Great Hall for their first Dueling League meeting of the year. Harry was disgusted to see that Lockhart was standing there, obviously arguing with Professor Flitwick. Now the fool was going to interfere with the Dueling League? Not if they had anything to say about it.

"What's the problem, Professor?" Hermione asked as they walked up.

"Well, Mrs. Potter, I was just telling-" Lockhart began.

"I wasn't talking to you, Gilderoy." Hermione said venomously. "I was talking to Professor Flitwick."

"Well, Professor Lockhart here was just telling me how he is much more qualified to handle the Dueling League." Flitwick said, clearly angry.

Harry was extremely annoyed. "Really? This idio- I mean Lockhart thinks that he is better than you at dueling?" Lockhart nodded. "Fine. Then, once everyone arrived we'll have a duel."

"Me and Lockhart?" Flitwick asked, grinning.

"No. He isn't worthy of dueling you. He'll be dueling me, your student. If I win, he must not return to another meeting for at least one month. If he wins, he can stay and run the duels for the next month. Agreed?"

Lockhart said. "Well, Harry, as much as I'd like to, I really don't want to hurt-"

"Don't worry. You can't." Harry interrupted. "Professor Flitwick?"

Flitwick chuckled. "The terms are fine with me." He knew that Potter was a very skilled duelist. Also, forcing Lockhart to fight a student, rather than himself, would be a great insult. Especially when he loses.

* * *

"Here we are for the first duel of the year! Professor Lockhart seems to have challenged Professor Flitwick for the leadership of the League. However, instead of facing the man himself, Flitwick has decided to send possibly the best student duelist at the school, Harry Potter. I wonder, will Lockhart's skills be enough to beat the undefeated Potter?" Lee Jordan shouted. "Duelists ready?" Harry and Lockhart nodded. "Begin!"

Harry smirked. He was planning on making this as painful as possible. It wasn't every day that he could beat up one of his most hated professors and get away with it. He fired a stinging hex at Lockhart, aiming for the professor's foot. The idiot grabbed his foot and started hopping around.

Harry started to fire more stinging hexes, making Lockhart shriek in pain. Harry cast a blinding hex on the man. He then summoned flames to surround the professor. As Lockhart was hopping around, he stepped into the flames. Then, the flames all surged up the man, enveloping him. They died down quickly, allowing Harry to see his opponent, but the man's robes were still on fire.

Deciding that Lockhart had suffered sufficient agony by this point, Harry decided to end this with an enhanced Bone-Breaking Curse and a stunner. Unfortunately for the professor, he had lurched to the side, falling. The stunner had missed completely and the Bone Breaking Curse had struck him in a very uncomfortable place. Lockhart immediately passed out as the curse hit him.

"Ouch! That's gotta hurt! I doubt that he'll be smiling for a _long_ time! Thank God." Jordan said with a laugh. "Potter wins again!"

The room was filled with cheers, as well as the booing of an enormous number of female students. Harry laughed as he saw Flitwick cackling in his seat. A large group of Lockhart's female supporters were now levitating him towards the hospital wing.

* * *

The next morning, slightly before dawn, a large dark green snake slithered out from the Forbidden Forest. Blood-red slits had replaced its own eyes. Every plant it touched seemed to decay and die. It left a trail of darkness behind it. The snake had been at the school since the previous year, and had been awaiting its master's command to resurface. It slithered towards the campus, finding one of the Herbology greenhouses. It slithered inside, simply phasing through the door with a flash of shadow. It looked around and was engulfed with darkness. It vanished. If one had looked very closely at the nearest table to the door, one of the left legs was larger than the other three.

* * *

About three hours after Herbology class the next day, Colin Creevey collapsed. He had immediately been sent to the Hospital Wing, after black fluid had been seen seeping from his mouth. Besides the symptoms of a fever, he still had black fluid in his mouth and his teeth were dyed black as well. He showed no signs of responding to any sort of healing magic or potion. He was utterly silent and still. Not even Dumbledore had been able to identify whatever the cause of this strange sickness was.

After hearing about the Creevey boy's problem, Harry had donned his invisibility cloak and made his way to the Hospital Wing. He had cast an extremely advanced scanning spell and, once it was completed, snuck out. After examining the results in depth, he determined that the disease was of no known origin. It had never been encountered before, as far as he knew, even in his future. He did detect some traces of something similar to snake venom, however, and that got him thinking. Tom must have been trying something different this time around. Then, remembering what Hogwarts had said, he considered the thought that it might have been Riddle's new master's idea. There were too many unknowns in this situation. He needed more details before he could make any conclusions.

* * *

After the Greenhouse had been sealed for the day, the snake dislodged itself from the table and, with a flash of shadow, reappeared in the Forbidden Forest. It returned to its lair, where it began to rest and recuperate. Utilizing the new power had severely weakened it and it would be at least one month before it could act again. One month before it could continue on its mission.

* * *

**Okay, in case you didn't notice, I hate Lockhart. Don't like Creepy Creevey much either. **

**Still not sure what's happening with Ginny. Should she be bashed or not? I'm leaning towards yes, but...**

**Luna's going to appear soon, possibly with Ginny. **

**Next time, Harry's going to check out the Chamber of Secrets and find something very unexpected there. **

**Please review. I'll update as quickly as I can.**

**Happy New Year!**


	22. The Real Chamber of Secrets

Harry walked through the second floor corridor. He had cast an Unnoticeable Charm on himself, which forced others to ignore him. The variation he had cast would also cause them to ignore his actions, so long as it wasn't extremely overt, such as casting a spell on a nearby person.

He walked into the girl's bathroom and walked over to the sinks. Harry had no need to actually look at the engraving of the snake. He had become a master at using the snake language over the years. If he had, however, he would have found that the snake had been replaced with the emblem of Hogwarts when Harry had walked in.

"_**Open."**_ He said in Parseltongue.

Harry waited as the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets opened. Of course, no one around, not even Moaning Myrtle, would notice it, because of the charm. He entered it and made his way downward. The passageway above sealed, ensuring that no one would find this place.

Harry made his way to the location of the Basilisk. He needed to get rid of it now, partially to ensure that nothing happened with it, and partly because he needed to do something inside the Chamber. As he entered the chamber, he looked up at the giant stone heads before him.

"_**Come out, basilisk."**_ Harry ordered in Parseltongue.

Harry saw it emerge and stared into its eyes, unfrightened. He had long ago learned how to suffuse his body with the kind of magic necessary to negate the terrible gaze of the basilisk and similar creatures.

"_**I order you to die." **_ Harry said. He had used similar commands on snakes before, and, due to the magical power of Parseltongue, they would obey and die.

"_**I recognize you as an Heir of Hogwarts. However, as the one who I am attuned to is alive, I have no needs to obey any other. I am under orders to protect the chamber from any threats."**_ It hissed.

Annoyed, Harry pulled out his wand. Tom's control must protect it from Harry's commands. He knew that magical animals like the basilisk would often link themselves to wizards. It was similar to having a familiar, but not as powerful a bond.

"_**Then you leave me with no choice." **_Harry said._** "You cannot be allowed to live. Riddle will use you to attack Hogwarts once he returns. I am sorry." **_

"_**I will enjoy killing you."**_ The basilisk roared as it charged at Harry.

He leapt to the side, pointing his wand at the beast. A jet of light smashed into the basilisk, barely affecting it. A basilisk of this advanced age would have extremely powerful defenses against spells, Harry knew. He considered summoning the Sword of Gryffindor, but decided against it. He didn't want to have to get close to that thing.

The basilisk turned and glared at Harry. It moved towards him, fangs glinting in the darkness. It encircled him, reducing his range of movement, then attacked from above, intending to devour Harry in a single bite. Harry used the angle of attack to fire a powerful burst of scarlet energy directly into the snake's mouth. The creature was thrown back, slamming into the ceiling before falling to the ground.

It looked, to Harry, like the snake's resilience to spells was mainly focused in its scales. Of course, the same spell had ripped through Voldemort's own shield, so it might not have anything to do with weaker defenses. Harry pointed his wand at the creature. A hundred needles of silver light exploded from a disc of energy that had emerged from the tip.

The basilisk had barely noticed when the needles hit. However, a few of them had pierced its scales and lodged themselves into its skin. The snake leapt at Harry again, not even noticing the embedded needles. Harry Apparated to the side, avoiding the beast and placing himself perfectly perpendicular to the silver needles.

He waved his wand. A trio of identical silver lances hovered in the air. They appeared as if they were made of metal, but were not. He gestured at the beast and sent the spears flying at it. They slammed into the needles and burst apart. A trillion tiny particles of silver light surrounded the basilisk's midsection. Harry triggered the second part of the spell.

Suddenly, the tiny sparks of silver light connected to every other with a beam of light. Collectively, they formed a massive sphere of light. The basilisk reared up, in sheer agony. Harry slashed his wand through the air. The sphere melted through the scales, into the creatures flesh. Suddenly, with a spurt of blood and silver light, the basilisk's head was removed.

He walked over to the dead basilisk and examined it for a moment. The midsection was completely disintegrated on the inside, but the scales on the outside were only slightly damaged. He would be able to use the remains. A basilisk of this age and size would be worth a fortune.

Harry turned, then paused. He knew that he probably needed to do this, but he wasn't sure what would happen. The Heart had contacted Harry and informed him that, if he wanted to learn to utilize the power that had obliterated Voldemort, he would have to enter the _true_ Chamber of Secrets.

The legend of the Chamber being Slytherin's was only a cover-up, although it was true that the snake master had built the entrance. He and the other Founders had decided that he was the one most likely to have a secret chamber, and had given him control of the design. Everything that had been considered the Chamber, even by Tom Riddle, had only been the guarded entrance to the real Chamber of Secrets.

The true Chamber of Secrets was a secret room built by all four Founders. The Heart couldn't explain what the Chamber had within it, proclaiming that Harry would have to find out for himself. He did assure Harry that, within the room, there was something that would explain what the hell he had done to Voldemort in the secret room that night.

* * *

Harry walked through the tunnel hidden within the mouth of the giant stone head of Salazar Slytherin. As he did, he felt a powerful energy sweep over him, confirming his Heir status. As he walked through the hallway, he saw the hallway change in architecture. It went from a cold, dimly lit dungeon into a beautifully designed hallway. The golden walls radiated light and warmth.

About a minute after the walls changed, Harry felt a pulse of magic and suddenly felt as if he was falling. Even as he felt it, his feet were still on solid ground. As he looked around, he was shocked to see nothing but a massive wall of light. The light constantly shifted from red to green to blue to yellow. Harry hesitated for a moment, then walked into the light. It seemed to resist for a moment, then, like liquid, it enveloped him.

As Harry looked around, he saw nothing but a empty void. Suddenly, there was a flash of red light, followed by a flash of blue, then green, and, finally, yellow. After each flash, there was a different wizard or witch standing in place. Harry instantly recognized them. They were the four Founders.

* * *

Harry quickly learned that the Founders had stored what were essentially clones of themselves inside of this Chamber for their Heirs. The simulacra were perfect, even down to the personalities. They were possessed of knowledge that even Harry wasn't aware of. Of course, he strongly suspected that, like the Runes, they didn't exist in his other timeline either. Not for the first time, he worried that he had done something more than simply going back in time. He did not, however, have any evidence, so he discarded the theory again.

The first thing he learned was about the unique magic that being an Heir gave him. As Heirs to all four Founders, he and Hermione had access to all four branches. They had different strengths in each of the founder's magics, based upon their connection to each Founder.

Of course, their links would be strongest to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, because they were actual descendents of the two and their marriage meant that the heritage was shared equally. Harry was much more linked to Salazar, because he had won the right from Riddle in combat. Hermione was linked to him as well, but it wasn't as strong. Neither of them would be particularly strong in Hufflepuff's magic, since their only link to Helga was by inheritance from friends.

Harry would have to bring Hermione before he learned about the Founder Magics. However, he did ask if they knew anything about that "Ruin" magic he'd used on Voldemort. They all looked hesitant after he asked that question. They were going to put it to a vote.

"Harry. The magic you seek is inordinately dangerous. Its power is incredible and it poses an incredible risk on the caster. Thankfully, due to your enhanced core, you will be able to learn the magic. Your travel through time is what has granted you this power. I vote we teach him." Godric explained.

"You caused damage to your magical core by using the magic without any knowledge of how to control the energy you expended. If you had known about the power, you would have been able to control it. I agree with Godric." Ravenclaw continued.

"The power of this particular branch of magic is extraordinarily dangerous to anyone around you, if you cannot control it. Your friends and soulmate could be harmed. I also vote yes." Hufflepuff said.

"With this magic, you will have a decided advantage over my current misguided Heir. With hopes that you will be victorious in correcting his mistakes," Harry knew what Salazar meant by that. "I vote yes." Slytherin said.

"It has been decided." They proclaimed simultaneously. Then, they all looked at each other and laughed. Harry was confused.

"Okay, now that the showiness is over with," Godric said, barely holding back a chuckle. "Why don't we begin your training in the ancient magic. The power of Divine Sorcery."

* * *

**Okay, I need to find something to call the core of Hogwarts other than "The Heart". Any suggestions? I need names with significance to its role in the story.**

**I already know what the Gryffindor magic is going to be, and I have general ideas for the others. I will take suggestions, if you can relate the magic to the Founder.**

**Next time will be Luna and, possibly, Ginny. I'm still leaning towards making Ginny bad, but I'm not set on it yet. If I get a huge negative response to making her bad, I won't.**

**Please review. I'll update as soon as I can.**


	23. Luna

Harry was incredibly irritated. He had finally learned to tap into the power of Divine Sorcery without needing to be driven to a state of pure rage. He was furious with both Godric and Salazar, both of whom seemed to enjoy driving him crazy. They had been agitating him to the point where he'd used it accidentally. At one point, he had been so angry that he had destroyed them with normal wandless magic, only to watch as they appeared with flashes of light, in exactly the same manner as before, laughing. However, in the end, with the help of Rowena and Helga, he had managed to reach the point where he could call on his Sorcery without needing a total shutdown of his conscious mind.

Divine Sorcery was, essentially, thought made manifest. It drew upon the magic of the wielder to activate the spell. Unlike normal wandless magic, which was simply using spells without a focus, it actually created the spells and manipulated them. Because of the nature of the magic, it was infinitely more powerful than a normal spell. They'd given Harry the example of a stunner and a Divine Command (as the Sorcery spells were called) to stun.

The Stunning spell simply fired a jet of light that would stun whatever it hit. It could be blocked with a shield, redirected, or avoided. However, with a Command of "stun him", the magic would take form and ignore any shields or attempts to hide. So long as the Sorcerer knew about the defenses, they did not exist to the Command. Only Divine Sorcery could block Divine Sorcery.

Of course, the power was hugely draining, because it was directly linked to the magical core, rather than using a focus. Very few wizards were born with the talent and only a tiny fraction of those would actually have the power to do anything with it. The longer one used the Sorcery, the less draining it became. The Founders had been surprised when Harry had mastered it in seven days and had been able to do simple Commands without significant drain. He was still disappointed that he couldn't do much besides what were the Command equivalents to household charms, without suffering severe magical drain. He had no idea what he had achieved. It was likely that, within a decade, he would be able to use Divine Sorcery with as much ease as he used regular spells.

* * *

He had not noticed the time and had been shocked to find that a week had passed while he had been learning. He had begun to panic. He had just located the exact temporal coordinates of the moment he had left, so he could jump back and avoid a beating from his wife for being missing for a week, until a laughing Rowena had told him that time within the Chamber of Secrets was completely under the control of the four memories. Currently, it was set for the maximum slowed rate. For every hour that passed in the normal world, one week would pass in the Chamber. Godric and Salazar were laughing maniacally at Harry's expression.

"And you couldn't have told me this sooner?!" Harry demanded.

"We wanted to." Helga explained. "But Godric and Salazar convinced us to hold back until it was time for you to leave."

Harry glared at the two ancient wizards, who looked like they weren't much older than Hermione's parents. "You two could outprank Fred and George easily." He said, fighting off a chuckle.

"The only pranksters at Hogwarts who could ever have given us trouble would have been that group of your father's…" Godric seemed to ponder it for a moment.

"The Marauders." Harry supplied.

"Ah, yes. Them. I remember one time where they went into the kitchens-" Salazar said, before he and Godric broke out into laughter.

"So you four know everything that happens at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Not really. Usually, we can only keep track of our Heirs. Not that it helps much, considering that we cannot contact anyone that has not entered this Chamber and cannot affect the world outside it." Rowena said.

"I bet that's irritating." Harry muttered.

"You have no idea." They said in unison.

* * *

Harry was walking to the Great Hall, where Hermione was waiting. As he was walking through the hallway, he saw a boy grabbing a blonde girl's bag and shoving her. A powerful rage burned inside of Harry at the sight.

He phased to the moment before the boy had grabbed the bag and placed himself in between the two. He grabbed the boy's arm before he could grab the bag and accessed his Sorcery powers.

†_**Begone†**_ He Commanded. A blast of white fire exploded from Harry's hand. It slammed into the boy and sent him smashing into the nearby wall. The boy slipped right through the wall and kept on going. He finally hit the ground on the other side of Hogsmeade.

The boy's friends turned and ran away, eager to escape from the wrath of the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry shook his head. He was a little dizzy, but was fine. The past few days of training had enabled him to use that spell with much less strain on his core.

"Scum." He muttered as he turned to look at the girl, who's eyes were wide as she stared. "It's all right, Luna." Harry said soothingly.

"Thank you for saving me, but… how did you do that?" She asked.

"It was just a spell." Harry shrugged. "A different kind of spell, but-"

"You're hiding something." She said matter-of-factly. "But I was talking about how, one moment I was on the ground with that nasty boy holding my bag, and the next you were in front of me before it even happened."

Harry groaned mentally. Great. He thought. Her Judge powers. That's the last thing I need right now. Looks like using my Sorcery so close to her overrode the locks on her abilities. I need to make sure she gets those abilities under control, before it happens again.

He was pulled back to that day. The day that one of their last friends died.

* * *

Two months before they had defeated Voldemort, Luna had been knocked unconscious by an unknown spell. Hermione had entered her mind to make sure that she was all right, since they couldn't revive her. Inside of her mind, she had found that something terrible had been done to Luna. Someone had locked her innate talents away, sealing the abilities that made her who she was. It was part of the reason why she had seemed so strange all of those years. The locks had been very old, old enough for her to obliterate them with barely any effort. They had probably been placed when she was a baby.

_When the locks had been banished, the shock had woken Luna woke up instantly. She learned of her unique powers as both a Judge and a Mirror. The powers of a Judge were rare enough, but she was probably the only Mirror in a thousand years. The fusion of the two was unheard of._

_The power of a Judge is, quite simply, the ability to know truth. She could look into the very soul of a being and see their entire lives, if she desired. She could mark beings, which would enable her to find them wherever they were. Nothing could escape their sight or erase their memories. Only an incredibly powerful witch or wizard could hide themselves from a Judge, and no one could fool them into accepting a lie._

_Her Mirror powers were much more complicated. Mirrors have the ability to absorb spells and then store the energy to use later. They could also reverse the spell, but that took a lot of strength. The problem was that Mirrors have limits to the amount of power they could store at one time. Also, they discharged the energy in different ways. Luna had released her power in the form of illusions. _

_However, six weeks later, they had gone to stop an attack on a city. Not knowing the limits of her abilities, she had stepped in front of a muggle family, while they were under attack from Death Eaters. She had absorbed the spells, giving the family the chance to escape. She had used her ability to absorb the spells and had saved countless lives. She absorbed so much energy that she had literally dissolved, releasing a surge of magical power that enveloped Voldemort's supporters. She had utterly destroyed the Death Eaters' ability to interface with reality, trapping them in a world of illusion. Her sacrifice had neutralized over a hundred of Voldemort's supporters and opened the way for Harry to finally kill him._

* * *

"What the hell was that?!" Luna demanded.

Harry cringed. "You saw that?"

She nodded, then looked into his eyes. She dove into his mind, bypassing the normal Occlumency shields.

"Luna. I'll give you a warning right now." Harry said very slowly, blocking her path. "Get out of my head. You don't want to see this and I won't allow it."When she kept trying to move forward, as if she couldn't stop, Harry sighed. "I was afraid of this." He took a gentle grip of Luna's mental self and pushed it back into her own mind. He created shields that even she wouldn't be able to get through. Anyone who got into his head would be subject to his memories and his pain. They'd probably end up committing suicide.

Her eyes burst open. "What did you do to me?" She demanded. "What was that vision? How did you jump in front of me and somehow reverse everything that happened? Who the hell are you, Harry Potter?!"

Harry groaned. He hadn't really planned on this. He would have to get Hermione, then take the girl to their Chamber. Since they couldn't exactly keep anything from a Judge, they would have to at least take her somewhere that no one would overhear.

* * *

Harry explained about the future to the girl, once they arrived in the Chamber. She knew that every word he spoke was true, but that didn't really make it much easier to accept, so she decided to focus on something else.

"What did you do to that boy?" She asked.

"Oh, that was a kind of… well… Sorcery. I can't explain it." He said. Thankfully, she didn't press the issue.

"How did you jump in front of him after it happened?"

"I already told you about Temporal Magic. Well, essentially, it gives me insight into the future, a warning sense, the ability to travel through time, and the ability to use various special spells."

Luna shook her head. "I know that everything that you say is true. But you're hiding things." She accused.

"Well, it's not that I'm hiding anything, it's just that it's a lot more complicated than that, but you kind of have to be insane to truly understand temporal magic. There are so many paradoxes and the like in using the magic that anyone who studied it would have to be crazy." He chuckled.

Luna shook her head at him. She got up. "Well, the two of you have some things to talk about. I'll just go back to my dorm room."

Harry was suddenly in her way. "Not a chance." He growled. "Not after what they've been doing to you." When he had pushed her back into her own mind, he had accidentally seen a glimpse of her own memories. "You can stay here." Even as he said it, a door appeared.

Luna opened her mouth, then closed it. She knew that it was futile to argue with him. He wouldn't let her go. "But my things…" Even as she said it, she knew that Harry had a plan about that too.

"Let's go get them." He said. "Hermione, you can wait here. I've got some things to tell you and we shouldn't be too long." Hermione nodded.

Harry took hold of Luna's shoulder and Apparated into the Ravenclaw Common Room. He sent her up to get her things, but, when she came back, she had a mostly empty trunk. Harry sighed.

"They took your things, didn't they?" Harry asked softly. "_ACCIO LUNA'S THINGS!"_

Suddenly, dozens of items suddenly flew down to the common room. They had been hidden just about everywhere in the dorm. Harry was livid as a Cho Chang flew down along with one of her books, a pen in hand. The book was covered in marks. He pointed his wand at the Cho. He was instantly unconscious. Luna grabbed his hand.

"Harry, don't punish her too much." She said, knowing that there was nothing on earth, save Hermione, that could stop him from doing something.

He sighed. "Fine. I won't kill the bitch." At a glare from Luna, he grudgingly added "Or seriously maim her." He groaned as she was still glaring at him. "Fine. No serious physical damage." She nodded.

He gestured and, with a simple switching spell, switched her arms and legs. Luna glared again. "What?" Harry asked innocently. "I didn't inflict any harm on the girl. Technically, she is in perfect health." And, as an honest Judge, Luna couldn't argue with that point.

* * *

**That part at the end was just a bit of fun. Considering all of the positive reviews about Luna, I decided to give her a bigger role in the story, so the chapter's a bit choppy. I also decided to make up a few new abilities for her, since I've seen her as a Seer way too many times. What do people think about her abilities? Guess who was responsible for locking them up? He'll be getting some bashing next time. **

**Ginny will be introduced soon. She'll just be a girl who's obsessed with Harry, when she first appears. I will be either making her go good (as in become their friend) or bad (as in trying to steal Harry via love potion or similar means) later. **

**Next time, Harry and Hermione will begin their training in Gryffindor Magic. It'll be interesting. The other magics won't appear for a while, so I'll still take suggestions. However, the magic is more along the lines of different branches of magic (like mind magic), rather than different elements. **

**Keep on Reviewing! **


	24. Earth Magic

After making sure that Luna was alright, Harry and Hermione explained the general facts about their Chamber. While within the Chamber, she could use the properties of the room. However, Luna would have to find one of the two before she could return to the Chamber, if she were to leave. She was not an Heir, so she couldn't Apparate there. Despite the younger Hermione's inability to Apparate normally, she could still transport herself to the Chamber, should she so desire. They gave Luna a two-way mirror, similar to the one that Sirius had given to Harry. With it, she could contact the Potters whenever she wanted to.

Later that night, Harry and Hermione went to the Founder Room. The four Founders introduced themselves to Hermione, not bothering with the formal act this time. After speaking with them for about an hour, Hermione expressed an interest in learning the Founder Magics. The Founders agreed, then conferred for a moment. They decided that Godric would teach his magic first, since he was the most connected to Harry, and was the most impatient.

"My magic is called Earth Magic." Godric explained.

"So, you mean it's elemental magic? Like fire magic and wind magic?" Hermione asked.

"No, no. The earth of the elements refers to nature, not Earth. My personal magic is the ability to manipulate Earth." Godric explained, trying to be mysterious. Hermione looked at him quizzically.

Rowena chuckled. "Godric. Quit confusing the poor girl." She turned to Hermione. "He means that his power gives the ability to manipulate aspects of the planet, such as the terrain. For example, one of his favorite techniques was to create a river of magma along the path of his sword swings."

"Yes, yes." Godric said, exasperated. "That's what I was trying to explain."

Harry laughed. "All right. Why don't we stop arguing semantics and get on with it."

"Fine, fine." Godric muttered.

* * *

It had taken the equivalent of two days for Harry to be able to use the magic. His maximum change was about ten meters. Meaning, he could create a ten meter high hill or a ten meter deep trench. He was especially proficient in changing the state of his terrain, such as turning dirt to mud or rock to magma.

Hermione had taken longer, the equivalent of six days. Despite her future knowledge, she could not access any of her future self's magical instinct. Neither had had any experience with this particular type of magic. She was only able to use six meters, and was good at minute changes, such as creating a small tunnel.

They had learnt that the Room actually kept their physical bodies in a state of stasis, while their minds learnt the magic, so there was no real need to leave the Room yet. However, the stasis magic only worked for a certain period of time before it became dangerous to remain in the room. One could only stay in the Room for a total of three real hours each week. Harry and Hermione decided to save their last hour in case they needed it later.

* * *

When they left the Room Harry and Hermione returned to the Chamber. As they passed the door to Luna's chambers, Hermione was surprised to a sudden surge of emotions within Harry.

"Harry? What's wr-" She began. She stopped when she saw that he was lying on the ground, as if someone had used the Full Body Bind on him. "What happened, Harry?" She asked. When she heard nothing, she tried to look into his mind. She was shocked to feel the turmoil at the other side of their link, as if there was a war going on in Harry's mind. She instinctively recoiled, pulling up mental barriers to protect her own mind from the sheer force at the other end.

When she had tried to see what he was thinking, she had seen something strange. Two colors that seemed to be fighting for dominance. Raging liquid silver versus brilliant green flame. The two forces had been so powerful that she had felt a strain on her own soul, hence the barriers.

She created a mattress underneath Harry, hoping to help with whatever pain he was feeling, and summoned a chair for herself. She sat and waited. It felt like hours, but it was only a minute before Harry stood. She leapt to her feet.

"What the hell was that?!" She asked, staring into his glowing green eyes. "I looked into your mind and saw-" She paused. "What the hell did I see, anyway?"

Harry sighed. "After you died in the future, I felt myself going crazy. I was totally alone. Feeling the insanity, I somehow created a new branch of mind magic. Essentially, I learnt to divide my mind. Every time I felt like I was about to do something crazy or stupid, I would separate my mind."

"How does that work?" Hermione asked, intrigued.

"My subconscious knew that I was going to find a way back to you. When it detected a fracture that could endanger that goal, it would splinter my mind into two. The insanity would be destroyed in the splintering, leaving only the damaged emotional mind. The two halves would then battle for supremacy. In most cases, the more rational half won. Of course, it couldn't completely negate the craziness." He grinned at her.

She shook her head. "So you can do this on command now?" At his nod, she continued. "So why did you just have to paralyze yourself?"

"Things like that tend to happen when I am in conflict with myself. Now that her locks have been off for a while, the secrecy spells placed on them have faded. I detected the aura of the person who placed them."

"Dumbledore?" She half-asked half-stated.

Harry nodded. " I was on the verge of going up to his office and killing him."

"And why shouldn't we?" She asked angrily.

"Because he still has the backing of the Minister. The Ministry doesn't exactly threaten me, but I'd like to have a decent school experience this time, not one on the run." Harry shook his head. "I despise Fudge, but there's not much I can do. I can't find any hard evidence against him. He's too good at covering up his tracks."

"So, what you're saying is that you would kill him, but you don't want to deal with the results." Hermione said.

"No. I _want_ to kill him. That doesn't mean I would. Besides, I get the feeling that if I were to confront him right now, he would end up splattered across the walls and there would be damage to the castle's structure."

Hermione froze at that. "What do you mean?" She asked in a small voice.

"I mean that I'd probably overcharge my spells. With the kind of spell that I'd have to use to deal with the old fart... it would be disastrous. It would inflict severe damage to the castle. As in, half of it gone. Tomorrow, I'll see if I feel like I can deal with him without killing him. If so, be prepared for some serious changes around here."

Hermione wasn't quite sure how to take that. She was still keeping her mental barriers up, because, from the look on Harry's face, he wasn't nearly as settled as he said he was.

Harry yawned, summoned a door, and opened it. "I'm going to bed." He said. Hermione followed him, wondering what would happen tomorrow.

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapter. I wanted to update, but didn't have much more time to write. Break is coming to an end, so it'll be a bit longer in between chapters. Blame school.**

**Um... Next time is going to be a bit more of the Virus and a showdown with Dumbles. **

**Keep the reviews coming. **


	25. Exile

Year Two - Chapter 7

Exile

Late that night, deep within the Forbidden Forest, a shadowy figure glided towards the dormant snake. Its cold, dark presence awakened the snake, the evil of the figure's presence fueling it with power. It slithered out, moving towards the castle. The figure merely watched as the snake made its way out of the Forest.

* * *

When the two Potters woke up, they took Luna and went to breakfast. When they arrived, they found that there were a half-dozen people missing from the Great Hall.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Harry muttered. Hermione giggled at the familiar quote. Harry shook his head. "Come on, let's check out the Hospital Wing."

Harry's suspicions were confirmed when the six missing students were all lying on their beds, showing the exact same symptoms that Colin had showed. "We've got to find a way to cure this sickness." Hermione whispered.

"You're wrong." Luna said pleasantly. "It's not really a sickness, so much as a transformation. You need to find the source of it."

"What do you mean? How do you know? What's the source?" Hermione asked.

Luna shrugged. "Don't know. I just know that this is intentional and that something is changing within them."

Harry was worried. It was her Judge powers that had enabled her to find that little bit of information. It would take something with an incredible amount of power to hide something from her. He could do it, should he try, but if there was something out there with the kind of power that he had access to…

He was pulled from his musings when Hermione asked: "-think?"

"What?" Harry asked.

"What do you think the source could be?" She asked again.

"Um… I'm not sure. Since I don't know what is happening, I'm not sure what it could be. If Luna said that someone is causing this, then I'm sure it's true. All we know is that, when someone acquires whatever this is, they go catatonic."

"True. I don't really want to make decisions without all of the facts." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"They are all in danger." Luna stated.

They moved closer to the unconscious students when Harry began to hear a very quiet sound. If his hearing hadn't been enhanced by his magic, he probably wouldn't have noticed. It was a faint hissing, coming only from Colin.

"Can you hear that?" Harry asked.

"Hear what?" Hermione asked, confused.

"I'm not sure. I can hear a hissing coming from Colin." Harry explained. "Here." He waved his wand to temporarily enhance Hermione and Luna's hearing.

"I still don't hear anything." Hermione said.

"Me neither." Luna said. "But you are hearing it. Strange."

"Why don't we go look this up?" Hermione asked.

Harry suddenly had a thought. It had happened before. He'd heard noises in his second year last time too. He had been able to hear the basilisk, even though no one else had heard anything. He knew there were sub-vocal aspects of Parseltongue, but… If the boy was somehow speaking Parseltongue, he would be moving his lips and he would have been able to hear what the boy was saying, not just a hissing noise.

"I think it might have something to do with Parseltongue…" Harry said quietly.

"We should look into that." Hermione said, thoughtfully.

"Let me try something." Harry said. He ran back to Colin.

"_Wake up!"_ He said in Parseltongue. The boy's eyes shot open. As Harry turned to walk away, the boy fell into a normal sleep, obviously drained, but still fine. The hissing had quieted, but was still present.

"He's fine." Luna said after waving her wand over the boy. "He's just tired. It seems that whatever you did woke him up."

"So apparently, Parseltongue wakes them up. Weird. I'll tell Madam Pomfrey that I have a way to wake them up. I don't think that I want everyone to know that I can speak to snakes."

"Why don't we make sure that it works on all of them?" Hermione suggested.

Harry shrugged, walked over to another student and tried again. _"Wake Up."_ Nothing happened.

"What?" Harry said, confused.

"Maybe it only works after a certain period of time." Hermione suggested.

"All right. I'll go talk to Madam Pomfrey and explain that Colin is awake." Harry said. "Afterwards, I think that I'm going to deal with Dumbledore." As he walked into the Healer's office, a massive snake slithered away, heading back to the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Harry decided that he would challenge Dumbledore to a duel. The terms would be that Harry would surrender his emancipation if he lost, while Dumbledore would swear to stop trying to manipulate Harry from afar. Dumbledore had accepted the terms. The duel was that night, on the roof of the school. Dumbledore had wanted to have it in the Great Hall, but Harry wanted to keep it away from the other students. He had a feeling that this battle would be intense.

* * *

The only ones that were present were Harry, Hermione, Luna, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick. They bowed to each other, then began. Dumbledore smirked. There was no chance that he could be defeated by a mere second year, no matter who it was. He fired off a barrage of stunners simultaneously, a solid wall of red light speeding towards Harry. With the Elder Wand in his possession, he could perform such feats. The Wand was the main reason that he'd been able to fight against Tom and not die, but Voldemort didn't know that.

Harry's wand tip glowed as he swung it in a circle around him. A dome of light enveloped him. The red wall smashed into the barrier and the two canceled themselves out. Harry fired off two jets of white flame. Dumbledore didn't even move and the bolts shot off into the empty space behind him.

"You should just give up now, Harry!" Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "Your aim is so bad that I didn't even need to block!" He felt an intense heat coming from behind him. He turned and fired off a massive wave of water. But it didn't stop the creatures made of blue fire.. The flame beasts smashed through the water, turning orange as the heat decreased. They smashed into Dumbledore, whose robes caught on fire. He bit back a scream as he put them out with a wave of his wand.

"I can't believe that you didn't expect that." Harry chuckled. "And you're considered one of the best duelists of the age."

Dumbledore was consumed with rage. He fired off a stream of black light at Harry. As he moved his wand, the beam moved as well, enabling him to manipulate the path of the deadly spell. Harry watched as the almost unblockable spell flew towards him. He thought of a half dozen ways that he could get rid of the spell, but decided to simply absorb it with his watch. Dumbledore laughed as the spell hit Harry, but was stunned when the boy was completely unharmed.

"That was a very Dark spell, Headmaster." Harry chided. "You shouldn't be using such magic." He sent a shockwave through the air towards the old man.

"I will use whatever magic I choose for the greater good." Dumbledore said, blocking the air attack.

"You don't even know what good is! You've lost sight of your path!" Harry shouted. He absorbed another Dark curse from the old man before firing off a jet of indigo light.

Dumbledore deflected the jet of light into the ground. The stone liquefied instantly, with cracks forming along the surface of the stone. Dumbledore waved his wand to repair the roof, before he had no more ground to stand on. Then, Harry was on him. His wand was replaced with the shining Sword of Gryffindor. He clove straight through Dumbledore's wand and deep into his left hand. He returned the wand to its normal state, so the power of the Elder Wand would be drained into his own.

Dumbledore was furious as Harry did that, ignoring his wound. "You idiotic child! I'll kill you! You'll regret ever opposing me!" He pulled another wand from within his robes and sent a whip of flame at Harry. However, the whip shot past him, towards Hermione and Luna. Dumbledore obviously intended to cut through all three of them at once.

Harry didn't give him the opportunity. He Apparated behind Hermione and caught the whip of flame in his hand, before it could reach her. Sparks of deadly golden light sparked from Harry's hand, as swirling power enveloped him. The whip of flame was consumed by golden light that streaked towards Dumbledore, pouring into his wand, which exploded. He stalked towards the old man, rage literally burning in his eyes. Space seemed to distort around him as he released his power. Dumbledore stared in horror as the young man approached.

"How dare you." Harry said, eerily calm. "You, the self-proclaimed Leader of the Light, attacking innocent schoolgirls! You were supposed to teach them, not kill them! Your job was to protect them." He took a deep breath. "It is decided. You cannot be redeemed. I, Lord Harry James Potter, Heir to the Four Founders and Master of Hogwarts hereby strip Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore of his rights as Headmaster. Hereafter, you will never set foot within Hogwarts again!"

Dumbledore fell back as power drained out of him. A massive portion of the old man's magic had been power that he had been draining from the school. As Headmaster, he had had the right to utilize magic from the school if necessary to protect the students, but he was not supposed to keep draining power from the castle for his own gain. As Dumbledore stumbled back another step, he found himself outside the gates of the school, which slammed closed.

* * *

After witnessing this, the dark figure vanished. The area around it instantly warmed as its evil aura was removed. Its black cloak fell to the ground and crumbled into dust before vanishing.

* * *

**Don't worry, we haven't seen the last of the old fart. There is a lot of bashing for the Dumbles left. **

**I wonder if anyone will guess what the figure is. If you've read the books or seen the movies, you might be able to guess. Hint, it's not Voldy.**

**I want to know what people think about the details I've given on the Virus. **

**Please review!**


	26. The Shattered Sword

Year Two – Chapter 8

The Shattered Sword

Harry returned to the Hospital Wing every day. Every few days, another student would be found with identical symptoms. He found that, by using his Parseltongue, he was able to awaken them approximately thirteen days after they had begun to experience the symptoms. The time varied between students, although it was not much more than an hour's difference for most of the victims.

However, when a sixth year was found, he found that it was only twelve days before he could awaken the student. It seemed that the older the student the faster he could bring them back. However, there were several cases that did not fit with the pattern.

Harry's foresight had been alerting him of something, but something was blocking him from actually seeing it. Every time he tried, he saw a flash of something, then he could only see shadow. At first, the shadow seemed to waver whenever it appeared, but then began to gain strength.

Unbeknownst to Harry, each time the shadow appeared, the watch began to radiate a powerful energy. Each time it pulsed, the shadow shifted, writhing. Each time, however, the watch gradually stopped pulsating and, when it did, the shadow solidified.

* * *

Harry had been asleep when he heard screams. He ran out into the central chamber and saw that a door with a glowing Gryffindor lion on it had appeared. As his fingers brushed the surface of the door handle, he found his hand wrapping around the handle of the door to the first year Gryffindor boys' dorm. He pulled it open and saw a large black and green snake lying in the middle of the floor. The boys were screaming at the sight.

He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the creature. The rune on it blazed a brilliant gold. He levitated the snake into the air. It hovered for a moment, then fell to the ground. He tried to summon it, to get it away from the first years. It flew towards him for an instant, before landing back on the ground.

Getting annoyed, he pointed his wand at the snake and fired ten crystal shards at the snake. They smashed into the ground, surrounding it. They then began to expand and connect, forming a round, translucent crystal cage that floated into the air. Despite the fact that the crystal shards had buried themselves in the ground, there were no marks in the floor.

The snake tried to slither out of the tiny cage, but every time it tried to go through gap in the cage, it was thrown back by a sudden surge of energy. He looked around the room once the snake was contained. The boys were half in shock. He saw Colin Creevy was still lying on his bed. He was covered in sweat and, from what Harry could tell, the boy was almost completely drained of magical energy. He was asleep normally, but he ordered a couple of the boys to carry him to the Hospital Wing anyway.

Once he was sure that the rest of the boys were alright, he Apparated to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and brought the cage with him. He began to question the snake in Parseltongue.

"Why were you in the castle?" He asked angrily.

The snake only hissed back, not saying anything intelligible, even in Parseltongue. He was curious and cast an age detection spell on the creature. Its mind wasn't even an hour old, while its body read as being about eleven years old. It explained why the snake couldn't talk to him. Like human babies, snakes that young wouldn't be able to communicate in any form.

Harry dispelled the crystal cage, which inhibited magic cast by or on something within, and cast a marking spell on the snake. The spell only lasted a moment, before fading. The snake slithered away, into the forest. He didn't bother following it. He could find it from the traces of his magic on it, which would last for several weeks (as opposed to a normal wizard's magic which wouldn't last for more than a few hours). In this case, his magical signature would be just as effective as the marking spell. He wanted to get back to sleep, and didn't feel like going into the monster-infested forest.

* * *

When Harry returned to the Hospital Wing the next day, he found that Colin was still there. Madam Pomfrey told him that the boy had shown signs of rapid cellular healing when he had shown up. He had suffered some sort of internal damage and his body had depleted itself in healing the wound.

Harry was surprised. For most wizards, self-healing was difficult to perform while awake, let alone asleep. The boy didn't have much magic normally, certainly not enough to regenerate himself. This was another mystery. The boy had been the first one to contract the disease. Something was seriously wrong.

* * *

He had suggested that Madam Pomfrey recall the patients who had been awakened, in order to make sure that they were all right. None of the students had shown any symptoms, even under a strict medical scan. They'd been allowed to rejoin the general student body. Colin was still being kept in the Hospital Wing, in a secure ward to ensure that nothing else would get in to the room.

* * *

Later that day, Harry detected a life force that bore traces of his magic vanish. After ensuring that Hermione was alright, he realized that it must be the snake. His suspicions were confirmed when he detected a wave of dark power, enough to breach the Hogwarts wards, heading straight for the Forbidden Forest.

He Apparated to the grounds and ran towards the Forest, Hermione following right behind him. She wasn't sure what was wrong, but had figured from his expression that it was something bad. He pulled out his wand. He followed the path of his own magical signature, coming to a deep cavern. He was about to suggest that Hermione run back to the castle to let everyone know when she suddenly clutched her head.

"NO! Stop! Don't- don't hurt them!" She screamed. Harry could feel the chill and gave thanks that his own mental shields were so strong. He could feel the future Hermione's pain passing on to the twelve year old girl beside him. It was definitely a disadvantage to have the future memories at that moment.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" He shouted. As his patronus shot forward into the cave, he saw a horde of Dementors. It only took seconds for their collective auras to extinguish the spell's light. He took a deep breath.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM MAXIMUS!"_ He roared. Instantly, a wall of silver light exploded from his wand, filling the cavern. The spell generated hundreds of the silver apparitions, their proximity with one another making it appear as if they were a wave of silver, rather than individual forms.

As the army of Patronuses washed over the dementors, they shrieked. It was a well-known fact that dementors had no voices, yet the screams were clearly audible. He saw them begin to burn, literally consumed by the awesome power of the spell. Suddenly, however, the wave froze. It seemed to struggle a bit more, then exploded. Darkness washed over the silver wave, rushing towards Harry. He summoned the Sword of Gryffindor in his left hand and tapped the blade with his wand. It blazed silver as he infused it with the raw positive energy of his Patronus.

With a single strike, the glowing blade tore into the shadow, dissolving it. Deeper in the cave, he saw what looked like another Dementor, save that this one was about twice the size of a usual Dementor. It had a swirling shadow aura, tinged with what looked like blood colored flames. On its cloak, it had blood red runes of vile power.

Harry could feel its dark power attacking his shields, attempting to pierce his defenses. He could feel a hint of the nightmares of his past. This thing was far stronger than the usual Dementors. It raised its arm and sent a volley of shadow bolts towards Harry. He waved his wand to throw up a shield, protecting the crying girl behind him, and then raised his silver sword.

He tore through the dark blast, the pure power of his Patronus enabling his sword strikes to rip through the sheer evil of his enemy. It varied its attacks, trying beams and waves of darkness. It also tried to use blood colored flames and ice to attack him. As he destroyed the demon's attempts to harm him, he continued to move closer, taking a few steps with every slash. Finally, he was close enough to attack.

He swung his sword at the Dementor, but it caught it with its hands of shadow. He could feel the Patronus within fighting against the dark power of his enemy. A moment later, there was an explosion and the two were thrown apart. Harry managed to catch himself and charged forward.

The Sword of Gryffindor impaled the massive Dementor. Silver fires began to form in the creature as the Patronus energy moved to complete the purpose it was designed for. The power poured out of the blade, covering the massive dark creature in what looked like silver cracks all across its body. It reached out and one of its hands wrapped around Harry's left forearm. He screamed in pure agony as the blood in his left arm began to freeze.

He twisted the blade violently, desperate to end the pain. He channeled a blast of pure magical energy into the blade. The Dementor exploded, completely vanishing. Harry watched in horror as the blade of the Sword of Gryffindor shattered into a trillion pieces, which began to disintegrate. He didn't have time to contemplate this, however as he felt a sudden pain across his mental link. He turned to look at Hermione to see a massive black snake sinking its fangs into her side.

* * *

**Okay, I know people are going to hate me for this cliffhanger. I'll try to avoid them as much as I can.**

**I've decided to reveal the name of the next 'book'. Year three will be called "Harry Potter and the Dementors' Secret". **

**Please review!**


	27. Healing Fire

Year Two - Chapter 9

Healing Fire

Harry banished the snake away from Hermione as he vanished, reappearing beside her. There was so much power packed into the spell that the snake flew into the sky at a speed far higher than the speed of sound. The creature was ripped apart from the friction as it flew.

He watched in horror as Hermione's eyes rolled up into her skull and she passed out. Her magical core was draining at a prodigious rate. He wrapped his hands around her upper arms and started to drive his magical energy into her body, intending to burn out whatever poison had been injected. Her body began to radiate light as the energy was rejected and dispersed.

When nothing happened, he began to panic. He directed even more energy into her body. The area around him began to warp, the rocks cracking and breaking as the pure energy ran loose. Seeing that her body was still rejecting the energy, he drove it into her through a single point, funneling it through a single cell and channeling it through her entire body. Seeing how the single cell was purified, he channeled it further, directing it throughout every particle of her body.

His pure power flooded every single cell of her body, burning out the poison. Her eyes shot open. Suddenly, massive beams of light lanced out of her eyes and mouth, from her fingertips and toes. Then, she slumped over, sleeping. Driving the pure power from her body had knocked her out.

Harry was totally drained. The act of directing the pure magical energy into every single cell of a human body was exhausting, especially considering that each cell had taken the energy of five normal spells. He slumped over, watching the raw magical energy that had suffused the surrounding area disperse, forming a massive column of light.

He began the process of regenerating his massive magical core. He had learned how to slip into a kind of half-meditative trance that would allow him to gather energy from everything around him, amplify it, and absorb it. He could regenerate every last bit of magical energy in only twelve hours. Normally, fully recharging a magical core of Harry's level would take over a week.

About an hour later, Harry saw movement at the entrance of the cavern. He struggled to pull out his wand. The only real downside of the trance was leaving the user in an almost drunken state. It took about fifteen minutes to fully shake off the trance, until the core is fully regenerated. He did manage to develop a way around the mental sluggishness, however.

He pointed his wand at the approaching humanoid figure. "Wh- who're you?" He said, half-slurring his words.

"Are you alright?" He heard a voice. It took him a moment to recognize it.

"Longbottom." He said, using his second mind to control his thoughts.

"Harry! Is Hermione with you?" Neville asked.

"Yes. Why are you here?" He asked.

"I noticed that you were missing and saw that light. I figured that you had something to do with it, since I could detect your magical signature. Are you guys ok?"

"We could use some help. Assuming, of course, that you're not planning anything stupid." He said, but was unable to make the appropriate threatening facial expression.

"Sure. What do you need?" He asked.

"I'm going to wait for about ten more minutes, then I'm going to head back to the castle. I would appreciate it if you could levitate her back with me. I'm not in the greatest state, magically speaking."

"Sure." Neville muttered. He sat down next to Harry and the two waited in a slightly uncomfortable silence for the ten minutes until Harry could move properly again.

* * *

"Well?" Harry demanded. "Is she going to be alright?"

"I believe so." Madam Pomfrey said. "I've never seen a healing technique quite like this. What did you do?"

"I burnt away the taint with pure magical energy. Concentrating the energy to a state of raw directed power, rather than shapeless force, enabled it to return the individual cells to their natural state."

"So it was magical fire?" The Healer asked, confused.

"NO!" Harry said emphatically. "That would have hurt her. It was a magical force that attacked the impurities directly. It was the excess energy that did this to her."

"So… it was magical energy that was made into a kind of healing fire… I wonder… This would take an immense amount of magical power. Could we make the technique into an actual medical technique? It would be a lot easier than waiting until you can do… whatever it is you do to wake these patients up."

"I'm not sure…" Harry said. "To get the energy into this form, it takes an enormous amount of power and control. I seriously doubt that there are even a dozen living people with the ability to do this…"

"Harry? Could I speak to you for a second?" Neville asked. Harry nodded. Neville led them out of the Healer's earshot.

"What is it, Neville? If this is some trick-" Harry began.

"It isn't a trick, I just thought that I should let you know. I was looking around at the students earlier and… well… Dumbledore taught me how to detect magic, especially the Dark Arts. I saw an extremely powerful Dark signature on some of the people in the school. The same people that were sick. I saw people with the same signature on the people in the Hospital Wing. It's like they're… incubating some sort of dark magic."

Harry froze. "What?!"

"I don't think you saw it because I detected some sort of secrecy spell. It was only because I cast a searching spell to look for you that I was able to pierce it. I saw the trace around the Creevy boy, and ever since, I've been able to pierce it."

"It must have decayed with time." Harry realized. "But what's the purpose? Why would someone do something like this?"

"I'm not sure. I need to talk to you about something else too… I've been getting headaches every time I cast a spell… Do you think it has something to do with Dumbledore?"

"So, it's beginning." Harry muttered. "The dark magic that you were using is corrupting your core. Whenever you cast a normal spell, a slight trace of it courses through your body. Since you're resisting it, it inflicts pain."

"What can I do?" Neville asked. "I won't use that dark magic again. I would rather die."

Harry paused. "You have a few options. First, you could use lesser Dark spells to wean yourself off your addiction-"

"No!" Neville said vehemently. "I won't use the Dark Arts at all."

"Fine. That takes us to option two. Which is to do nothing and let your corrupted core consume you. As in, to just let it kill you. Now, I'm assuming that you don't want to die and, since you refuse to use the Dark Arts, there's only one other option."

"What's that?" Neville asked apprehensively.

"I can use a special type of magic to convert the corruption into Light energy." Harry paused. "It'll be extremely painful… And it'll alter you in ways that even I can't predict." Neville had no idea how meaningful that was. "It'll also bond you to me… Not something I want, especially if you plan to betray me. Ever. So now, I ask you again. Are you sure that you want me to do this?"

The magic was incredibly risky, especially considering the fact that the absolute change was interfering with the Temporal Magic. Harry had no way to see what would happen to him after the change. The resulting bond would not be like the one he shared with Hermione. Essentially, the link would bind Neville into Harry's service. He didn't want to do it, but he couldn't bring himself to consign the boy to death because of Dumbledore's manipulations.

After Harry's explanation, Neville spent a few minutes considering it, then shook his head. "If you're willing to do it, I would be honored. I tried to kill you with some of the darkest magics known. Even though you know I was compelled to do it, it would take a truly great person to forgive me." The boy said honestly.

Harry sighed. "Fine. Hermione won't be awake for a few days. Even though I annihilated the virus, I overloaded her cells with power. She's managed to disperse it, but the effort drained her. Without a healing trance… she won't be able to regenerate her core for a while."

"So…?" Neville asked, confused.

"I'll do it on Halloween. Midnight. Because of my personal past, my power will be able to draw out all of the dark power. I'll be able to extract it all. Then, we'll see if you manage to survive."

* * *

**Not my favorite chapter, but...**

**I realize that the time is slightly messed up. I have a bit of a problem when it comes to dates in stories.**

**Blame school for the slower update times. **

**Please review!**


	28. The Knight Arises

Year Two – Chapter 10

The Knight Arises

It had been invading his thoughts every time he closed his eyes. Ever since his promise to Neville, the vision had appeared before Harry's eyes. A golden rune. A tingle of power flooded through every one of his muscles each time he saw it. Something was coming.

* * *

It was Halloween. The teachers had attempted to create the usual air, but the absence of Dumbledore and Lockhart's inherent idiocy had made it impossible. Most of the students had been annoyed by the general lack of the festivities, while the first-years didn't know what they were missing.

Harry stood before Hermione's bed and watched his unconscious soulmate. Her body's condition had been mostly restored. It was only a matter of time until she awoke. There was a very good chance that she would be much more powerful, because of the assimilation of a tiny portion of his power.

Harry took a deep breath and sighed. He turned and walked out of the Hospital Wing, after layering a dozen conditional shield and ward spells around Hermione. Anyone attempting to hurt her would have to pierce through all of them.

He walked down to a place near the lake, just inside the Forbidden Forest. He ran over the spell in his head again as he did. He didn't want to make a mistake, which could result in any number of horrible possibilities. The spell was almost never used, because it was so risky and, honestly, there wasn't much use for it. There weren't many Dark wizards who wanted to get rid of the taint.

Harry looked up, towards the castle, and saw a boy walking down towards him. It was almost time.

* * *

Neville stood in the center of a massive magic circle. Harry stood just in front of him.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked. "This will not be comfortable."

Neville took a deep breath and nodded. "I trust you."

"Alright. Prepare yourself." Harry waited a moment longer, then infused his hands with blazing light. Each of his fingertips had a different color flame on it. He pressed his hand forward, through the barrier of the circle. He stepped into the circle and pressed his hand to Neville's chest. Then, he pushed his hand inside of Neville's chest, exactly opposite his heart.

Neville's eyes bulged and he began to spasm. Harry pulled his hand from Neville's body. Silver lightning began to arc between his palms. He pressed them on either side of Neville and the lightning crystallized, enveloping the boy in a bluish substance. Neville was frozen in place.

Harry pulled out his wand and began to weave an intricate web of powerful spells around the boy. Darkness began to emerge from the boy, filling the crystal shell with an inky blackness. Harry continued to weave spells, drawing on the five master spells that he'd placed within Neville. At the moment, he was only able to extract a small portion of the Dark taint.

The five flames would slowly make their way to his heart. Once there, he would be able to begin the truly dangerous portion of the ritual. He sheared off layers of the blackened crystal, which disintegrated when they hit the magic circle.

Once all of the crystal was gone, Neville was spasming again, unable to control his own body. The spells had temporarily put the boy's mind to sleep, enabling the taint to be removed. Harry took a deep breath as he sheathed his wand. Then, his hand was engulfed in light and flame again. The colors this time were the exact inverses of the previous flames. Then, Harry drove his hand through Neville's chest, wrapping his fingers around the boy's heart.

Each flame came into contact with its opposite at the same time. Neville's eyes burst open as his mind was reconnected in an instant. Suddenly, the magic circle exploded violently. Even as Harry tried to remove his hand, the two were wrapped in strange magical energy and vanished.

* * *

Harry looked around at the strange starscape. This had not been part of the plan. He pulled his hand from Neville's chest. A strange light was floating in it. The strange orb of light pulsed in Harry's hand. Harry looked up at Neville and was surprised.

The boy was wearing armor of made light. He held a sword that seemed to radiate pure energy. As Harry looked at Neville's aura, he saw that the armor registered as a part of the other boy. Before he could consider the implications of this, the sphere suddenly expanded, enveloping them both.

* * *

Harry looked around to see a large stone cavern. There was a pulsing golden light at the end. He'd seen this twice before. Neville stood next to him, shaking his head.

"What the hell just happened?" Neville asked groggily.

"I'm not really sure. Come on, we should go to that light. I've seen its like before." Harry said.

Neville felt an intense compulsion to do as Harry said. He did not fight it. "All right."

The two walked down the cavern. Strangely, this time, the cave actually seemed shorter than it looked. Harry could feel something… off in Neville's aura. Something strange was going on.

They reached the end of the cave and, like Harry had expected, there was a Well that was similar to the other two. This one, however, was far more intricate and seemed to contain far more power. Harry walked over to it, but before he could touch it, Neville slammed him out of the way. A massive metal dragon head bit down on the spot he'd just been in.

Harry pulled out his wand and fired a barrage of deadly spells at it. It reared back as each one hit, but did not show any sign of damage. It opened its mouth, and Harry saw a beam of destructive energy shoot out. The beam had his magical signature on it.

Before Harry could cast a shield spell, Neville leapt in front of him. "What are you doing?!" Harry demanded.

In answer, Neville slashed at the beam with his sword, sundering the massive energy blast. He leapt towards the metal dragon and, with a single strike, removed one of its legs. He hit the ground and jumped up again. This time, he brought the blade down on the construct's neck. It collapsed, dead.

Harry was shocked. Something was going on here. There was no way that Neville's sword should have been able to kill the metal beast. He would have to think on this later.

"Thank you." Harry said.

"Are you alright?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. More importantly…" He turned to look at the Well.

Harry walked over to it and examined it. This one had three openings. One for the wand, one for a box, and one that looked like a left hand. Suddenly, the watch on his arm detached, reforming into a box that appeared in his hand. He thought for a moment, then made a decision.

"Watch carefully." Harry instructed. "I'm not a hundred percent sure what will happen here. This one is different."

Neville did not ask for clarification, but simply nodded.

Harry inserted the Rune of Absorption first, which slid into the slot easily. The metal of the Well glowed blue before the rune faded from the box. After placing the wand in its proper place, Harry placed his left hand onto the slot.

There was a sudden explosion of golden fire. Harry found that he was unable to remove his hand. He felt a strange sensation, like cold liquid flowing around his hand. There was a sudden blazing heat on the back of his hand. There was an even greater flash of gold light and Harry was blinded.

* * *

When Harry could see again, he was surprised to see that his arm was still inside of Neville's chest. When he removed it, he saw a strange silver metal glove on it. There was a blazing golden rune on its back. On the tip of the forefinger, the blue Rune of Absorption was glowing.

Neville's eyes shot open. "Harry! Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess that, somehow, the Rune of Combat was buried inside of you. That explains a lot." Harry mused. "You're a Knight."

"A Knight?" Neville asked, confused.

"A Warrior, which is, essentially, someone who is born with incredible combat skills, is very similar to a Knight. A Knight, however, is possessed of even more skills and strength. They even have natural weapons and armor formed of their own unique magic. However, they are tied to a cause." Harry paused, then continued. "They were thought to have been wiped out, because many ordinary wizards feared their powers."

"So, you're saying that I have some sort of combat abilities and weapons?" Neville asked, confused. "How can that be? I was normal, except for Dumbledore's influence."

"My guess would be that the unnatural taint was suppressing your power." Harry said. "Let's go back. That was exhausting." Neville nodded and the two set out for the castle.

Harry felt a pulse from his glove. He looked down to see that the Rune of Combat was pulsing softly. Something was different about this rune. Harry just didn't know what.

* * *

**If anyone has read my other story, Harry Potter and the Power of the King they will know a little more about the Runes, including the fact that the Rune of Combat is one of the two High Runes. There is a reason that he got it so soon.**

**Any opinions on Neville's new power? **

**Next time, we'll learn what Voldy's been up to.**

**Please review!**


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